UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A project to enhance safety at all Penn State campuses has been two years in the making, resulting in the 911 addressing of all buildings at University Park and at 21 of Penn State’s Commonwealth campuses. The project, led by the University Police and Public Safety (UPPS) Emergency Management unit, involved partnerships with numerous internal Penn State departments and external law enforcement and other partners.
“The proper addressing of buildings on our Penn State campuses, meeting 911 requirements, proactively works to assist first responders, including police, fire and emergency medical services (EMS), when responding to incidents on our Penn State campuses,” said Wesley Sheets, chief of police and public safety. “The countless hours taken to correctly identify and label locations in our communities will result in a faster response time when first responders are called on in an emergency, which can be lifesaving.”
The UPPS Emergency Management unit partnered on the project internally with Penn State’s Office of Physical Plant, Geographic Information Systems, Transportation Services, and the Multimedia Print Center, among others. Externally, the unit worked with the U.S. Postal Service, local counties and municipalities, GIS departments, addressing offices, fire departments, EMS and police departments. Each partnership was vital to the completion of the project.
“This is an exceptional example of those within our community coming together for the betterment of services for our campuses,” said Alex Craige, emergency management senior coordinator, who led and managed the project. “The number of moving parts in this project was many, and collaboration has led to the benefit of all. Prior to the completion of this project, emergency responders either needed to know the campuses well or were provided with general locations to work from to get to a correct location during an emergency.”
Addresses for buildings that were identified as needing to be addressed may be found in LionSpace (Penn State login required). On many campuses, unnamed streets were identified and named, including at University Park, where more than 20 “new” streets have been identified and named.
These new addresses should only be used for emergencies for now as the University needs time to apply them to their many systems.