E-mails
Student e-mail addresses are being upgraded, and will operate on a new system. All current student addresses will become obsolete when the current server is shut down on May 27, requiring students to manually set up new e-mail addresses.
Student accounts are ready for use, but require a manual set-up by individual account holders. Student mail accounts will now operate through the Microsoft Live system, changing current addresses from student@kutztown.edu to student@live.kutztown.edu.
According to Richard Miller, Manager of Servers and Security, this change was pursued at the state level with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) implementing the change. Miller noted that the reason for the change is practical.
“If we can replace an older system, like what we have now, with a more stable system that is also cost effective, it makes sense,” Miller said in an interview with The Keystone.
Upholding the new e-mail servers “doesn’t cost the University anything,” said Jean Mae Smith, Executive Director of Technology Resources and Information Technology in the same interview.
Microsoft hopes to gain life-long customers from their experience with the mail system and benefits from the minimal but inevitable advertising, said Miller. Advertising will not be present on the main student account pages, but some of the peripheral pages may have advertisements on them. Microsoft has the right to place advertisements on main account pages for students after they have graduated, but it is not yet clear if they will do so.
Under the new system, e-mail addresses are permanent and will be available after graduation. Storage space is much higher at 10 gigabytes, up substantially from the present 20 megabytes (there are 1,024 megabytes in one gigabytes).
Miller noted, “the biggest complaints we’ve received over the years were about storage space on student accounts. The old system is probably considered an antiquated e-mail system.”
The new e-mail system is compatible with “smart” devices and multiple Internet browsers. Available through the new accounts is a feature similar to Google Docs, allowing users to share documents in a specialized interface. Students using third party programs like Mozilla’s Thunderbird or Microsoft’s Outlook should not have any problems configuring e-mail accounts because the new system uses standard e-mail protocols. “There shouldn’t be any issues with that,” said Miller when asked about third-party e-mail programs.
Students must retrieve their initial passwords, user names, and addresses necessary for setting up the new account from Online Student Services. All information is available now. User names for computer access, Blackboard and Online Student Services will not be affected.
After retrieving user names, passwords, and e-mail addresses, students must activate the new live.kutztown.edu accounts by following a tutorial available at http://www.kutztown.edu/infotech/news/pdf/Logon.pdf. The new URL for accessing e-mail is http://www.outlook.com.
Mail sent to @kutztown.edu addresses will be forwarded to the new @live.kutztown.edu addresses until January 30, 2010, but students should set up their new accounts as soon as possible, said Smith.
“The only thing I’m worried about with the change is people not switching over on time. Please change your accounts,” Smith said, addressing all students.
Current messages, however, will not automatically be sent to new accounts and must be manually sent by students. Students must visit http://www.kutztown.edu/infotech/news/pdf/Migration.pdf for a nine step tutorial for downloading old messages to the new account. The process is basically entering old account information in one of the menus to download all old messages.
Visit http://www.kutztown.edu/infotech/news/studentemail.asp for more information, links to the login site and tutorials, system features, help, and FAQs.
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