Privacy Policy

Alverno College Website Privacy Policy

The purpose of this policy is to protect the privacy of individuals who have sensitive information stored electronically on assets owned by Alverno College, while at the same time providing the College the ability to share this information with authorized entities as required by legitimate academic or business need or by law. This policy is not intended to replace or supersede other existing College policies and procedures relating to the use and maintenance of sensitive information such as those related to FERPA compliance.

Section 1: Privacy Statement

Alverno is required by state and federal laws to keep certain information confidential. Privacy and confidentiality is balanced with the need for the College to manage and maintain its networks, keep all members of our community safe, and provide the services requested by our employees, students and their families.

Section 2: Kinds of Information Collected

You may choose how much Personally Identifiable Information to provide to Alverno. Information collected online is often defined as being either personally identifiable or anonymous:

Personally Identifiable Information tells Alverno who is using the website and includes information you may request that we store on the website for your future use. Alverno may need this information to provide a personalized or enhanced service that you request – such as additional information or online payments. While we hope that you will find it beneficial to judiciously provide Personally Identifiable Information to Alverno so that we can provide the best practical service to you, the amount of Personally Identifiable Information that you choose to disclose is a decision you make.

Anonymous Profile Information refers to information that cannot easily be tied back to a specific individual. For instance, we may know that 2,000 people visited this Privacy Policy page today, but we do not necessarily know their names or how to contact them.

Section 3: Personally Identifiable Information

You may be asked at various times to provide data such as your name, e-mail address, phone number, credit card information, bank account information and/or address (the Personally Identifiable Information), as well as information specific to the service or transactions you are seeking from Alverno. Alverno collects Personally Identifiable Information online primarily for your convenience such as for direct deposits, online payments or applications for admission to the College, and to make it easier for you to use the website. It also permits Alverno to communicate with you and to improve the website and our services.

When you use the Internet, your Internet browser automatically transmits some information to Alverno every time you access our website. Examples of such information include the URL of the web page you were just on, the IP (or Internet Protocol) address of the computer you are using, and the browser version you are using to access our site. Some of this information may be collected by Alverno to help us improve our website and our services. For instance, we may use this information to ensure the content you request is presented in the best format.

To activate some of the features available within the website, we may assign cookies to your Internet browser. On our system, a cookie is a small text file that contains a unique identification number stored on your computer. This unique identification number automatically identifies your browser to our server computers when you interact with our website. When you agree to provide Personally Identifiable Information directly to us, we may assign cookies that identify you, personally, to our servers.

Section 4: Anonymous Profile Information

Some of the pages on our website collect Anonymous Profile Information. The creation of an anonymous profile allows Alverno to identify the information that users find most useful. We may use these anonymous profiles to improve our website’s content and format, and College services. This is essential to our ability to provide high-quality content to you.

Section 5: How Information Is Used

If you elect to provide Personally Identifiable Information on the website, Alverno may use that information for transactions you have authorized, for internal research or to correspond with you.

If you correspond with us through letters or email messages, we may store such correspondence with whatever other information you have provided to us. By engaging in transactions with Alverno or submitting correspondence to Alverno, you agree that we may store the relevant information and contact you in response.

Alverno reserves the right to use such information for any lawful purpose, including but not limited to recruiting, marketing, performance monitoring and statistical analysis. Alverno may also preserve, access, monitor or disclose information containing Personally Identifiable Information and other information, subject to the requirement of federal and state law, in the following situations:

To preserve information and respond to requests of law enforcement, federal and state agencies, and legal processes;
To conduct Alverno’s business or research;
To preserve, access, and monitor information, accounts and equipment in the course of an investigation of misconduct, violations of law or violations of College policy by students, faculty or staff;
To access and use the information for purposes associated with the assigned responsibilities of College staff; and
To maintain networks, audit networks and prevent or respond to security breaches.

Section 6: Retention of Data

Alverno retains personal information about students and alumnae indefinitely for the purpose of alumnae relationships, academic record-keeping, and archiving purposes.

Section 7: Communications from Alverno College

Alverno also reserves the right to send registration confirmations, service alerts and similar messages to our users to inform them of specific changes that may impact their ability to use our website.

Alverno College and the Alverno College Alumnae Association periodically send marketing communications to alumnae, supporters and other members of the Alverno community, such as newsletters, event invitations and fundraising information. If you would like to request that Alverno College or the Alverno College Alumnae Association limit or stop these marketing communications with you, please contact us at alumnae@alverno.edu. If you request to be removed from our mailing lists, we will retain your contact information to ensure that we do not continue to contact you for these purposes. If applicable, we will also continue to process your personal information for other purposes consistent with this Privacy Policy.

Section 8: No Sale of Information to Third Parties

Alverno’s policy is to retain Personally Identifiable Information only for our use. We do not sell your Personally Identifiable Information to third parties.

Section 9: Other Websites

This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by the website. Alverno does not control the information collection and distribution policies on Internet domains other than on Alverno Internet domains. As a service to our users, the website may provide links to other sites, use third-party search services and/or use electronic payment services. Alverno is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage all users to read the privacy statements of each and every website.

Section 10: Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) Notification of Rights

In addition to the rights conveyed to you by this Privacy Policy, the Federal Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students certain rights with respect to their education records. These rights include:

The right to inspect and review the student’s education records within 45 days of the day the College receives a request for access;
The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the student believes are inaccurate, misleading or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights under FERPA;
The right to provide written consent before the College discloses personally identifiable information from the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent;
The right to restrict Alverno’s use of student’s directory information, which otherwise will be shared freely by the College; and
The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by Alverno to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

Section 11: Individual Rights Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Union (EU), you may have the following legal rights under applicable law with respect to the personal information processed by Alverno:

To withdraw consent at any time, if we are processing your personal information on the basis of consent;
To access the information that Alverno has about you;
To request that Alverno rectify or erase your information;
To request that Alverno restrict the way it uses your information;
To object to the way Alverno uses your information;
To ask Alverno to transfer your information to someone else; and
To lodge a complaint with a data protection authority in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Alverno’s ability or obligation to comply with your requests may be limited by applicable law. To request to exercise one of these rights, please contact us at webmaster@alverno.edu.

Section 12: Privacy Policy Updates

Alverno reserves the right to amend this policy at any time, for any reason, without notice to you. Any changes will be published here and you should check our website to access our current Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy was last updated on May 15, 2019, and was approved by the Technology Steering Committee on May 16, 2019.

Section 13: Consent

By using this website, you agree to all of the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any term of this Privacy Policy, please do not submit any Personally Identifiable Information.

Section 14: How to Contact Us

Questions regarding this Privacy Policy should be submitted via e-mail to webmaster@alverno.edu. Our address and phone number follow:

Alverno College
Marketing and Communications
3400 S. 43^rd St
PO Box 343922
Milwaukee, WI 53234-3922
414-382-6000