ALERT: Utility/Power Failure on Campus – UPDATE

June 11, 2025 - 11:28 AM

UPDATE: Utility/Power Failure on Campus

Meadville Water Authority is just completing the the main water line repair on the north side of campus and and the water line should be pressurized shortly.

CAUTION FROM THE WATER AUTHORITY: A loss of positive water pressure is a signal of the existence of conditions that could allow contamination to enter the distribution system through back-flow by back‑pressure or back‑siphonage. As a result, there is an increased chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms.

DO NOT DRINK THE WATER WITHOUT BOILING IT FIRST. Bring all water to a rolling boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using; or use bottled water. You should use boiled or bottled water for drinking, making ice, washing dishes, brushing teeth, and food preparation until further notice. Inadequately treated water may contain disease-causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. These symptoms, however, are not caused only by organisms in drinking water, but also by other factors. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice. Guardians of infants and young children and people at increased risk, such as pregnant women, some of the elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems, should seek advice from their health care advisors about drinking this water. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1 (800) 426‑4791.

The Water Authority will inform local residents when the water is safe to drink. An updated message Emergency Message will be sent from Public Safety.

Students, faculty and staff should monitor e-mail, the college web site, social and local media for updated information and further updates.
Contact Campus Safety in the event of an emergency: 814-332-3357.

More information on Emergency website

News and Updates

Tech Tip Tuesday: Searching in Gmail

By November 23rd 2021

Have you ever been certain you received an email (or sent one), but you aren’t sure how to find it so you can view it again?

Fortunately, your Allegheny account with Gmail offers you a rich variety of ways to search for those, using the search bar at the top of your Gmail inbox page. Here are just a few:

There are many more ways to conduct a search in Gmail. Visit the Gmail Help Center to learn more about searching in Gmail.

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Brief OpenAthens outage

By November 16th 2021

OpenAthens authentication went down briefly this afternoon (Tuesday, November 15, 2021). OpenAthens is the system that allows Allegheny students and faculty access to most of our databases and our interlibrary loan system, EZBorrow. When users tried to log into anything using OpenAthens, they were seeing a 404 error. The problem was quickly resolved. If you encounter issues accessing any of our databases or EZBorrow, please try clearing your browser history and trying again. If that does not resolve the problem, please open a Web Help Desk ticket so LITS can help troubleshoot.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Transitioning to New Google Sites

By November 16th 2021

If your organization or department is still using the classic Google Sites service for a web page, please remember to transition to the new Google Sites interface before the end of the year. Google will phase out classic Sites with new Sites, with updated features and a new interface.

Here are the steps to convert a classic Google Site to use new Google Sites:

  1. Open your Google Site.
  2. Click on the Settings icon (the little gear in the upper right corner.)
    Screenshot of the Settings menu in classic Google Sites, highlighting the "Manage Site" option
  3. Choose Manage site.
  4. In the side menu, choose Convert to new Sites.
    Screenshot of the side menu in the Manage sites interface of classic Google Sites, highlighting "Convert to new Sites"
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the conversion.
  6. Note that you will need to do this for each individual Google Site you maintain.
Learn more about transitioning from classic Google Sites to the new Google Sites.
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Tech Tip Tuesday: Keep Your Device’s Operating System Up to Date

By October 26th 2021

If you use a smartphone or tablet, it’s important to keep the operating system (OS) up to date. Doing so can help avoid security risks, improve performance, and keep everything running smoothly.

blurred photo of a person holding a tablet

Taking the steps outlined on this page from the Federal Communications Commission both for before and after the update will help make the transition to the updated OS as seamless as possible.

Remember that each type of device uses a specific OS, and the update process for each OS is a little different.

The OS used by Apple mobile devices such as iPads and iPhones is known as iOS. Here’s how to update iOS on your mobile device.

Android devices are a little more complex, because different manufacturers may customize the OS in different ways, and the update methods vary a little with each successive version of the OS. Google provides instructions that will work on most devices for updating your Android OS.

Learn more about adopting safer habits with your devices at Allegheny.

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Tech Tip Tuesday: Create Meeting Notes in a Calendar Event

By October 19th 2021

Now you can create a document for your meeting notes right when you schedule an event in Google Calendar, in addition to adding other attachments.

Here’s how:

  1. From within Google Calendar in a web browser, choose Create.
    Screenshot of the "Create" button in the Google Calendar web interface
  2. Set the options for the meeting, such as the date, time, title, and guests.
  3. Choose Add description or attachments.
    Screenshot of the event creation dialog in the Google Calendar web interface
  4. If you have other documents in your Google Drive to attach to the meeting, use the dialog box to choose those.
    If not, choose Cancel.
  5. After you close that dialog box, you will find an option to Create Meeting Notes.
    Screenshot of the "Create Meeting Notes" option in a meeting creation dialog box in Google Calendar
  6. Creating a notes document from Calendar will automatically populate the document with the event information and attach the document to the event.
    Screenshot showing a meeting notes document listing in the event details in a Google Calendar event
  7. Choose Save. This will automatically create the document in the Google Drive of the person scheduling the meeting.
  8. The first time you open the meeting notes from within the Google Calendar event, it will be automatically populated with the meeting details and some common tools.
    Screenshot of the Meeting Notes document showing the basic tools and meeting details prepopulated
Remember:
  • Be aware that the meeting notes will be shared with all guests, including those outside Allegheny College (if any).
  • This feature is currently only available when creating events in a web browser; it is not yet available in the Google Calendar app on mobile devices.
  • Meeting notes can also be added in a similar fashion after the event is created.
  • Anyone with permission to edit the event details can add meeting notes.

Learn more about adding attachments to Google Calendar events.

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Research Thursday: Logging into DSpace

By October 7th 2021

DSpace is Allegheny College Institutional Repository’s. There are thousands of items in DSpace organized into a number of digital collections including college committee minutes, senior projects, and historical civil war letters. Some of these items are available to the public, but the majority of the items are only accessible to the Allegheny College community.

In order to access certain items, you must log in using your Allegheny College username and password. Check out this video to learn how to log into DSpace:


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Tech Tuesday: Using Labels in Google Contacts

By October 5th 2021

We’ve talked before about using labels in Google Keep. Google Contacts is another service where labels can help you keep things organized.

On your Android phone or tablet:

Create a label

  1. Open the Contacts app .
  2. At the top left, tap Menu and then Create label.
  3. Enter a label name and tap OK.

Add contacts to a label

  • Add one contact to a label: Tap Add contact and then choose a contact.
  • Add multiple contacts to a label: Tap Add contact and then touch and hold a contact and then tap the other contacts and then tap Add.

In a web browser:

Create a label

  1. Go to Google Contacts.
  2. At the left under “Labels,” click Create label.
  3. Type a name, then click Save.

Add contacts to a label

  1. Go to Google Contacts.
  2. Select one of the following:
    • A single contact: Check the box next to the contact name.
    • Multiple contacts: Check the boxes next to all the contacts you want to add.
    • All contacts: Check the box next to any contact and in the top left, click Selection Actions and then All.
  3. At the top, click Manage labels .
  4. Click the group label you want.
  5. Click Apply.
Tip
If a contact has multiple email addresses, only their default email address is added to the label group. You can use the Contacts app  on an Android device to change the default email address for a contact.

Tip
You can email all your contacts under a particular label from within Gmail.

  1. Open Gmail.
  2. At the top left, click Compose.
  3. In the “To” field, start typing the name of the Contacts label, then select the label name from the list that appears.
  4. You’ll see a list of contacts in the “To” field.
What else can you do with Google Contacts?

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