Emergency and Weather-Related Communications
WKU employs a variety of methods to communicate with our internal and external community during an emergency, weather-related event or any time events may cause disruptions in the normal campus routine. These include:
- Emergency text alerts - sign up to receive text alerts
- After you sign up to receive text alerts, you may also wish to download our WKU Emergency Alert contact card on your mobile device. The contact card allows you to quickly add the multiple SMS short codes used by our emergency alerting system, combining them under a single contact so that you can better recognize who they are from, and know that they are from a legitimate source.
- Outdoor warning system (voice alerts and sirens)
- Building warning systems (voice alerts and sirens)
- Mass emails to students, faculty and staff
- WKU News
- Messages posted to the WKU website
- Messages posted to WKU Facebook and on Twitter @wkunews and @wku.
- Digital signage boards on campus
- Override of the campus cable television system
- Local news media
Note: All official communication will originate directly from WKU News or the WKU Police Department. We encourage students to be cautious with where they obtain their information during emergency situations, especially via social media.
Emergency Preparedness at WKU
At WKU, the safety and security of our students, faculty and staff is extremely important to us. We have created the WKU Emergency Preparedness Website as a place where students, faculty, staff and the community can visit to find resources related to campus safety, security, emergency preparedness and more.
WKU provides a number of ways you can find out if classes are delayed, canceled or if a campus is closed.
Weather closings/cancellations will be announced from WKU News via text alerts, campuswide emails, social media and on the WKU website -- WKU homepage, WKU News page.
Students, faculty and staff should keep safety in mind when making travel decisions and the university will work with students who can’t come to campus for weather-related reasons.
In the event of severe storm warnings for Warren County, tune to local weather reports on TV, radio or online, follow @wkuweather, @wkupd or @NWSLouisville on Twitter, or the National Weather Service’s Louisville forecast office. Additional sources of weather information and data include White Squirrel Weather, Kentucky Climate Center, Kentucky Mesonet, and WKU Meteorology Program.
If a tornado warning is issued for Warren County, the WKU Police Department will activate WKU’s outdoor warning system and send an emergency text message to students, faculty and staff who have signed up for WKU’s emergency text alert system. To sign up or verify you are enrolled with the proper cell phone number, log into your WKU TopNet account.
Campus Transportation Services
For changes in campus transportation services, you can also monitor NextBus. To access NextBus:
- Call 270-392-3193 and enter the stop code. (The stop codes are listed on the signs at each bus stop.)
- Visit http://www.nextbus.com/wku
- Download the NextBus or iWKU app on your smart phone.
- Follow WKU Parking & Transportation on Facebook or Twitter
Changes in Campus Events
Weather could impact events and activities on campus. Check with event organizers for the latest information.
Some of the links on this page may require additional software to view.