The Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education (ACUTA) selected Wayne State University to receive its prestigious Award for Institutional Excellence in Communications Technology for the university's Broadcast Messaging Service. This service was developed at the direction of WSU President Irvin D. Reid, who called for the creation of an emergency notification system using today's mobile technologies.

ACUTA's award, sponsored by PAETEC Communications, Inc., recognizes vision, technological leadership, and innovation in the creative use of communications technology to support teaching, learning, research, decision-making, and service delivery on college and university campuses.

Carmine Piscopo, Chair of the ACUTA Awards Committee, presented Wayne State's award to Reid during its 37th Annual Conference in Las Vegas on July 16, 2008. ACUTA, an international non-profit educational association serving colleges and universities, represents nearly 2,000 individual members from some 780 institutions in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

As the award winner for large-size institutions with more than 15,000 students, Wayne State was recognized for developing its own Broadcast Messaging Service to meet the communication needs of the university and its community. The service is used every day for targeted academic and operational messages - as well as for emergency alerts - to the campus or to target groups. It is unique in that each student, faculty, or staff person can receive messages on a variety of mobile devices by selecting one or more technology-based communication channels (text messaging, e-mail, and/or instant messaging) across multiple message categories.

"In these times, it is essential for a university to be able to communicate information about urgent situations quickly and accurately", Reid said as he accepted the award. "Wayne State's Broadcast Messaging Service addresses our evolving communication needs and preferences, strengthens student links to the university by providing a direct means of communication, and increases campus security."

Wayne State's Broadcast Messaging Service is carrier-neutral, advertising free, flexible, scaleable, and tightly integrated with its enterprise information, networking, and learning management systems. The service was developed internally by the university's Computing and Information Technology staff.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students.