alum donates money for mass notification system

In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, a UNH alumnus has donated an advanced all-hazard warning system to the university’s Durham campus.

John Olson is a 1957 graduate of UNH’s mechanical engineering program. Olson has also been working closely with Dr. Bill Lenharth and the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences on Project 54, a system that allows police to have voice-activated control over cruisers’ electronics.

“John Olson’s biggest goal is to encourage people to go into the engineering profession,” said Matthew Carlyon, associate director of Major Gifts for the UNH Foundation.

After Olson received the Distinguished Alumnus Award for his generous donations and achievements last week, he was informed that his alma mater was seeking to purchase a new warning system. Olson then pursued the donation of a $100,000 mass warning system to UNH’s Durham campus.

The alarm, which uses a prerecorded voice system, will be heard all across campus in the event of an emergency. Speakers will first release a siren, which will then be followed by a distinct and powerful voice message. The alert will be heard from the athletic fields, dorms and around the central campus.

Prior to this donation, Olson also set up a scholarship worth over $1 million to aid students in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. “He established the Whelen Engineering Scholarship Fund, which is more than half-way to his funding goal of $2 million,” said Carlyon.

Olson works as the CEO and president of Whelen Engineering Company, which has been working to construct mass notification warning systems used worldwide since the 1970s.

The Whelen systems have been used in the Midwest to alert communities of natural disasters. They are also used in nuclear power plants across the United States. Their notification systems were the only ones that continued to sound through the horrendous hurricanes in the South last year, due to their capability of running on powerful back-up batteries.

Before the donation of the system, UNH was relying on notifying students and faculty of emergencies by sending blast e-mails and voicemails out to the entire campus. UNH has had no kind of outdoor notification system, but has been interested in purchasing one for years. “We have been working on enhancing our communication system on campus,” said Director of Environmental Health and Safety Brad Manning.

Purchasing a new warning system was proposed as part of the budget for the new fiscal year, beginning on July 1. However, Olson’s donation took the university by surprise. “The president’s office and people in Thompson Hall are excited about the timely donation,” said Carlyon.

The university is planning to have the new system installed by commencement on May 19. The warning system will work to help students and faculty members take the proper safety precautions in case of an emergency. The system donated by Olson is known as a student alert system.

The student alert system is customized to meet different colleges’ needs, depending on the size and layout of the campus. Along with the voice capable outdoor sirens that will be used, the system will be controlled by base station encoders.

“After seeing what happened at Virginia Tech last Monday, it’s good to know we’ll have such an advanced system,” says sophomore Amy Steinberg. “Hopefully we’ll never have to use it.”

health insurance soon to be required for all UNH students 

Many of the nation’s leading universities demand health insurance as a requirement for all incoming full-time students. As of the 2007-2008 academic year, UNH will be one of them.

For this requisite to come into effect, the requirement will abide by a yearlong process of reviewing the individual students’ health care needs, considering the program’s objectives with students, parents and staff members.

Through Health Plans, Inc., health insurance will be available under UNH’s new Student Health Benefits Plan. For student coverage, the average cost of this program will be about $115 a month. This includes a $1 million maximum lifetime benefit, no current health care exclusions or limitations, prescription drug and mental health care coverage and reduced co-payments for access to physician and hospital services.

This plan will cover students whether they are at home, abroad or at school.

“Health insurance is essential to ensure that our students have appropriate access to heath care beyond the services available on campus at UNH’s Health Service and Counseling Center,” said Kevin Charles, assistant vice president for Student and Academic Services and director of Health Services.

Other schools with like health insurance requirements include UMass Amherst, Cornell, the University of Connecticut, the University of Vermont and the University of Rhode Island.

“We are pleased that the student health plan offered through the university will be one of the best in the country,” said UNH Health Services director of finance and administration, Cindy McGahey.

For many years, the university has made optional health care coverage available to students. Between the years of 2004 and 2006, benefits declined and premiums went up about 59 percent. Due to these cost increases, fewer students chose to enroll for insurance through UNH. The university decided it was best to pull the plan, leaving students to find their insurance elsewhere. The plan was no longer affordable and did not comply with the standards of the American College

Health Association, a national nonprofit association for college health services.

“Although this is a difficult decision, we feel it is in the best interest of our students. There are various individual health insurance plans available to you through the private market that might have favorable costs and benefits,” said Charles, in a letter sent home to students in February of 2006.

This new policy will assure that UNH complies with the insurance and benefit plan standards set by the American College Health Association. Students currently covered through other health care providers are not required to purchase the plan available by UNH, although UNH feels that more students will choose be covered by the plan because of the cost differences, and added benefits in comparison to their current health coverage.