A Bigger, Better Inbox
Saint Rose likely to switch to Gmail for student email
Elizabeth Delaney
Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: News
After much consideration with the Student Association, the Academic Computing Committee, and the President's Cabinet, it is likely that the College's email will switch over to Gmail by June 30, 2009.
On April 21, 2009, Executive Director of Information Technology Services John Ellis attended the 20th Student Association general business meeting to speak with students regarding the possible switch from our current email system to Google Apps Education Edition.
"As you know, we have been trying to solicit student input on outsourcing Saint Rose email to Gmail. I have been to several conferences to find out what other schools are doing. Fifteen to twenty percent have already changed and another third are likely to go to it in the next year," said Ellis. The College has decided that we will most likely follow in the trend by switching over this summer in time for incoming freshman.
The switch to Gmail will provide a number of benefits for both students and faculty and will hopefully be done with few complications. E-mail addresses will luckily remain the same and will be accessible even after a student has graduated as opposed to the current system which is deactivated after 18 months of inactivity, and will provide about the same level of protection. "We have to take some responsibility that our accounts are safe and secure. Gmail has a robust spam and phishing protection," said Ellis. Along with this, the switch will be done by the College and will require no cost. There will also be 24/7, 365 day e-mail support provided to students by Google and e-mail storage will increase from 30 MB to 7,321 MB.
Junior Amanda Loitsch said, "I think it's an awesome idea. I've only heard good things about Gmail and I think the switch from 30 MB to like 7000 MB will be really helpful. We're college students, we store a lot of stuff on our computers and in our email so the more space we have, the better."
During the Student Association meeting, Ellis explained that there have been discussions on blackboard that have influenced their decision to make the switch.
On April 21, 2009, Executive Director of Information Technology Services John Ellis attended the 20th Student Association general business meeting to speak with students regarding the possible switch from our current email system to Google Apps Education Edition.
"As you know, we have been trying to solicit student input on outsourcing Saint Rose email to Gmail. I have been to several conferences to find out what other schools are doing. Fifteen to twenty percent have already changed and another third are likely to go to it in the next year," said Ellis. The College has decided that we will most likely follow in the trend by switching over this summer in time for incoming freshman.
The switch to Gmail will provide a number of benefits for both students and faculty and will hopefully be done with few complications. E-mail addresses will luckily remain the same and will be accessible even after a student has graduated as opposed to the current system which is deactivated after 18 months of inactivity, and will provide about the same level of protection. "We have to take some responsibility that our accounts are safe and secure. Gmail has a robust spam and phishing protection," said Ellis. Along with this, the switch will be done by the College and will require no cost. There will also be 24/7, 365 day e-mail support provided to students by Google and e-mail storage will increase from 30 MB to 7,321 MB.
Junior Amanda Loitsch said, "I think it's an awesome idea. I've only heard good things about Gmail and I think the switch from 30 MB to like 7000 MB will be really helpful. We're college students, we store a lot of stuff on our computers and in our email so the more space we have, the better."
During the Student Association meeting, Ellis explained that there have been discussions on blackboard that have influenced their decision to make the switch.
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