During times of crisis, providing immediate and accurate communication to the Missouri S&T community and the public is essential. The Missouri S&T department of marketing and communications is responsible for coordinating all official university communication during a crisis situation. This includes internal communication to students, faculty and staff, as well as external communication to the public, alumni, prospective students, the news media, and other groups.
Communication components
Crisis communications team
A university-wide crisis communications team (CCT), made up of students, faculty and staff representing a wide range of interests, serves as an advisory committee to the marketing and communications staff. Depending on the type and severity of a crisis situation, members of the CCT may serve as subject-matter experts or spokespersons for the university. (See “Chief spokesperson(s),” below.)
Coordination
During a crisis situation, the marketing and communications staff will coordinate all campus communications with the campus community and off-campus media. Depending on the severity and magnitude of the crisis, communication may involve mass notification by text, phone and email, notifications by email only, or a combination of those approaches with social media posts, news releases, messaging on the Missouri S&T Alert site, and public statements.
Decision-making responsibility
The chancellor shall serve as the chief university official responsible for making decisions related to policy and protocol while consulting with the incident commander (chief of police or designate), chief communications officer and members of the Executive Policy Group (Chancellor’s Leadership Team). If the Chancellor is unavailable, the Provost shall serve as the senior university official. If both the Provost and the Chancellor are unavailable, the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations shall serve as the senior university official.
Incident command
In accordance with the campus Emergency Management Plan, the Chief of Police shall serve as the incident commander and in that capacity direct the university’s response to emergencies, in consultation with the Executive Policy Group (Chancellor’s Leadership Team). The chief spokesperson will work closely with the incident commander during all phases of the crisis situation.
Chief spokesperson(s)
During an emergency, the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, Director of Strategic Communications, or a designated member of the CCT will serve as the chief spokesperson. All media inquiries shall be directed to the marketing and communications department, which will coordinate with the chief spokesperson for response.
Technical assistance from IT
During an emergency, the Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, Director of Strategic Communications, or his or her designee will work with a liaison from Information Technology (IT), to be designated by the IT liaison(s) on the CCT, to establish communications methods to effectively communicate critical messages to various audiences as immediately as possible.
Communications methods by type of crisis
During a crisis situation, the Missouri S&T marketing and communications department employs a number of methods and media to get the word out to key audiences. The emphasis is to first reach internal audiences to ensure our students, faculty and staff are first of all safe and, secondarily, as informed as possible about the situation. Secondary audiences include news media outlets, which can help to communicate messages to the external stakeholders. Depending on the nature of the crisis, however, secondary audiences may have to rely on Missouri S&T’s website and social media to obtain information.
High-level crisis
(bomb threat, active shooter on campus, campus closure)
- Immediate: Mass notification system (MNS) to immediately deploy message via text, cell, email.
- Ongoing: Email, campus website, social media, news releases and dial-in phone system to communicate to campus community (students, faculty, staff) and to the public and the news media.
Partial campus crisis
(chemical spill, partial campus power outage)
- Immediate: Email to campus community.
- Ongoing: Email, campus website, social media, news releases and dial-in phone system to communicate to campus community (students, faculty, staff) and to the public and the news media.
Unscheduled disruptions
(network outage, water line break)
- Immediate: Varies, depending on circumstances. Marketing and communications staff may use email to notify campus community and rely on social media and standard media relations practices to communicate externally.
- Ongoing: Varies, depending on circumstances. Marketing and communications staff may use email to notify campus community and rely on social media and standard media relations practices to communicate externally.
Information
(crime alerts, planned outages)
- Immediate: Email notification to campus community.
- Ongoing: Email notification to campus community.