Contact: Margaret Pennock, Marketing Coordinator, Southeast Technical Institute

January 8, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SIOUX FALLS, SD– Southeast Technical Institute announced today the immediate deployment of the STI Alert System, a service from Connect-ED. This system will provide Southeast Technical Institute leaders with the ability to reach students, faculty and staff with time-sensitive information within minutes.

"Today we are forced to prepare for situations that years ago we never could have anticipated happening," said STI President Jeff Holcomb. "We recognize the important role that immediate communication plays in safety. This system will allow us to keep students and staff informed whether they are in their homes, sitting in front of their computers, or on their way to class."

Built exclusively for post-secondary institutions using the experience gained in delivering hundreds of millions of messages for educators over the past seven years, the service enables campus leaders to schedule, send, and track personalized voice messages at up to six phone numbers and two e-mail addresses per student and staff member. In all, the multi-modal service helps officials reach out to students and staff via:

· Voice messages to home phones, work phones, cell phones, and even e-mail addresses

· Text messages to cell phones, PDA’s, networked digital signage, and other text-based devices

· Text messages to e-mail accounts

· Messages to TTY/TDD receiving devices for hearing impaired

"It’s crucial that we are able to notify students and staff quickly in time-sensitive situations because up-to-date communication helps minimize the spread of misinformation, restore order and provide direction," President Holcomb said.

The system can be used to notify entire student populations and staff members of school closures and contingency plans due to unforseen incidents. This service has been successfully used for communication by schools across the country during events, such as the wildfires in Southern California, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ernesto, school evacuations, campus notifications required by the Clery Act, and to help locate missing persons.

Contact Information included in the STI Alert System will only be used for campus notifications and will not be made availble to any other sources.

For more information, contact Margaret Pennock at 367.7667.