Change is coming to UPennAlert! But don’t worry, this change will not impact your ability to receive emergency notifications.

As part of a systems improvement effort, the University is changing its mass notification system provider.

You will still view and receive alerts in the same methods – via SMS text on your cellphone, via your Penn email, and posted on the DPS website. The posts may look slightly different, and the short code number which sends the UPennAlert will change.

Contact information:

• Faculty, staff, temporary workers, and postdocs will maintain their UPennAlert contact information in their Workday profile after August 5, 2025.  Contact information will automatically be migrated from the Penn Directory to Workday; until then, staff and faculty are encouraged to make changes as needed in the Penn Directory.
• Students will continue to maintain and update their UPennAlert contact information at Path at Penn.
• UPHS employees with continue to register and update their contact information through the UPHS Phone Book.

Alert Messaging:

• After August 5th, text messages received on your phone from the UPennAlert system will be sent from a different short code.
• The look of the UPennAlert posting on the Public Safety website will change. The text message will link you directly to the full alert content, as always.

This Division of Public Safety website page offers additional details on the change.

Contact us with any questions or concerns.

Thank you for your patience as we improve systems to better serve the Penn community.