Calvin College designated first NWS StormReady location in GR

On Wednesday, March 27, Calvin College will be formally designated a StormReady Campus by the National Weather Service (NWS). At 3:15 p.m. officials from the local NWS Forecast Office will present certificates of this designation to Michael Le Roy (Calvin College president), Bill Corner (director of campus safety), Dave VanHouten (campus safety dispatch manager) and senior Hannah Smallegan (campus safety student dispatcher). The presentation will take place in the atrium of the college's Spoelhof Center.

"It is something that makes me really proud of Calvin College and our campus safety office in general, that we can offer the campus community these types of designations to improve safety on campus," said Dave VanHouten, campus safety dispatch manager. "That's what it's all about, keeping everyone on campus a little bit safer and giving parents another reason to send their kids to Calvin College."

To earn the distinction, Calvin had to meet a number of criteria related to weather disaster preparedness in the following categories: administrative, NWS information reception, hydrometeorological monitoring, local warning dissemination, community preparedness and communication. For the full list, visit http://www.stormready.noaa.gov/guideline_chart.htm

VanHouten highlights such features as Calvin's computerized dispatch system, its state of the art NWS certified Weather Alert receivers and its real-time weather radar. In an emergency, he says the college has at least two ways to alert its campus community--the RAVE emergency notification system, which notifies the community by text, e-mail and telephone and through an emergency alert siren, which sits between the college's east and west campus. VanHouten also highlights the college's brand new radio system, which he says has made Calvin a model for other local colleges and universities.

"We are always getting requests from other campus safety officers to come see what we are doing," said Van Houten. "We take pride in trying to be on the cutting edge of this."

Calvin College is just the seventh college/university in the state of Michigan to receive the NWS StormReady designation--the first in Grand Rapids. For a map of StormReady designations in Michigan, visit http://www.stormready.noaa.gov/com-maps/mi-com.htm

For more information, contact VanHouten at 616-526-6752.

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Matt Kucinski
Media Relations Manager
Calvin College
msk23@calvin.edu
616.526.8935 (office)
616.307.7429 (cell)
Received on Wed Mar 27 14:07:14 2013