Email changes and Office 365 FAQ – UPDATED

Created by DSC Officer for Library and Technology – Hamad Sindhi (library (at) cunydsc (dot) org)

Please note that the following FAQ is not an official GC IT document, but is reflective of the latest information the DSC has from IT. This information may change, and the DSC will keep students and representatives updated at the regularly scheduled DSC Plenary meetings.

For the official IT FAQ on this please see: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/About-the-GC/Resources-Services/Information-Technology/FAQ

  1. Why is this change happening now?

According to IT, this change is both in anticipation of CUNYFirst and changing from a locally hosted email environment to a more centralized environment (Office 365). DSC also believes that this is in line with efforts at overall centralization of all processes, which has been a major policy with the current CUNY Central administration.

  1. How exactly will my email address change?

The email addresses of all GC students and alum (who have kept their GC emails functional) will change domain names, specifically, from @gc.cuny.edu to @gradcenter.cuny.edu. The alias before the @ (for example, jdoe) will not change (in most cases) for current students or alum. However, Office 365 will remove certain special characters from registered email addresses, including tildes and accents, and hyphens. This new email address will, according to IT, be a lifetime email address as long as it is kept functional after you graduate.

  1. Do I need to act immediately after I get my new email address and password?

Once IT sends you an email with your new credentials (username and password), you DO NOT have to immediately start making any changes. IT is encouraging students to start using the new email addresses as soon as you activate them, but the DSC has negotiated a grace period until February 17th 2015 for keeping the old email addresses functional. So, in effect, you will have until mid-Feb 2015 to get used to using the new email addresses. Furthermore, the DSC has also negotiated for a longer period of time for students to be able to access their old accounts (even though new emails will no longer be collected in the old inboxes, but forwarded to the new inboxes) so that we can have more time to shift our old emails, contacts and archives to the new accounts. We will have until June 1st 2015 to do so.

  1. How long will I have access to my old email address?

As per the answer to question #3, we will have access to our old email accounts until June 1st 2015, so be sure to move any old emails, contacts and archives to your new email account by then.

  1. Will emails sent to my old email address bounce back?

As per negotiations with the DSC, IT has agreed to keep redirecting emails that are directed to our old email accounts starting February 17th 2015 and continuing until December 1st 2015 for alum and anyone who graduated this year and anyone who will graduate next year. For all other students, forwarding will continue until you graduate, with a 90 day grace period. After that, any email directed to the old email address will not be delivered, and will not be bounced back to the sender either (which makes it very important to alert all of your contacts, potential employers and publishers of your new email address).

  1. I graduated in 2014 or plan to graduate in 2015. How will this change affect me?

If you graduated in June 2014, Sep 2014, or will graduate in Feb 2015, June 2015 or Sep 2015, then you will still receive the new email addresses, and like everyone, have until June 1st 2015 to transfer your old email messages to the new account. However, unlike ongoing students, your old account will be deleted and stop redirecting emails to the new account on December 1st 2015.

  1. I am an alum. How will this change affect me?

If you are an alum and still actively using your GC email account, you will also receive new email addresses. Like everyone, you will have until June 1st 2015 to transfer your old email to the new account. However, your old account will be deleted and stop redirecting emails to the new account on December 1st 2015.

  1. I already forward emails from my GC account to Gmail/Yahoo/etc. How will this change affect that?

If you were already automatically forwarding any email that was directed to your @gc.cuny.edu account to another email account, that forwarding will be superseded by the forwarding that will direct incoming email to your @gradcenter.cuny.edu account. According to the IT FAQ about this, “Per CUNY Central Office CIS, “University best practice recommendation is to preclude automatic forwarding of email from your GC Office 365 email account to an external email account.” – See more at: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/About-the-GC/Resources-Services/Information-Technology/FAQ#sthash.mkXUchU7.dpuf”

The DSC has written to the CUNY CIO Brian Cohen asking him to re-evaluate and rescind this policy. You can read the letter here. Check the Library & Tech blog for updates on this.

That said, you may still be able to pull email to your personal email accounts or applications. For example, the Mac Mail app will still be able to pull all email from the Office 365 account, and you may be able to set up your Gmail or Yahoo Mail accounts to pull in email from it as well. The GC IT helpdesk will not be able to provide assistance on mail forwarding because of CUNY Central’s policy, but for some tips on how to pull in email from the Office 365 account, please read this post.

  1. I just got new business cards. Will I be able to get a refund or voucher to change my email address on these cards?

The DSC has worked with IT and the Print Shop (supervised by John Flaherty) on this matter, and there is good news. The GC will pick up the cost of new business cards for any students who got them in 2014. Students who bought business cards in 2014 and need them RE-printed with the new email address should contact Elizabeth Fraser in the Office of Communications and Marketing, 212-817-7183. Submit your information to her and they can begin the process. Turnaround time is about 5-7 business days, but please be patient. Please be assured that you will NOT be billed when you follow this process.

  1. What can I do to make this transition as smooth as possible?

Firstly, don’t stress about this in the middle of exams, finals and end of the semester busy-ness. You can still use your old email addresses to send and receive emails until Feb 17th 2015. Once you have a few days to organize your emails, start transferring anything in your old email account to your new email account. Once you have activated your new email account, make sure that if you give your new email information to students, advisors and colleagues, and especially to anyone you have submitted job applications, book reviews, journal articles and resumes. On that note, update your resume immediately. When you send emails from either your old or new account, be sure to notify the recipients that your new email address will be xxx@gradcenter.cuny.edu and that they should update their records – make this automatic in all your emails by putting it in the signature line.

More tips here.

If you have tips and suggestions about making this transition easier, please contact library (at) cunydsc (dot) org.

  1. What if I run into problems like emails not being forwarded to my new account or I cannot access my old inbox?

If you run into any problems please contact the IT Help Desk by either creating a ticket (https://helpdesk.gc.cuny.edu/TrackItWeb/SelfService/#sthash.IwWVsqHJ.dpuf) or by emailing them (helpdesk (at) gc (dot) cuny (dot) edu) or calling them (212-817-7300).

Please also feel free to contact the DSC Officer for Library and Technology, Hamad Sindhi, at library (at) cunydsc (dot) org.

 

Updated – Feb 15th 2014