MARAIS JACON-DUFFY | News Editor
Students looking toward graduation should also look into finding a new email provider.
University students who are on track to graduate in May will not be able to use their Butler email after Aug. 1, of this year, according to Scott Kincaid, chief information officer.
Email termination is not dependent on a length of time, but on what the Registrar’s Office determines a student’s status to be. For instance, if a student is in Butler’s pharmacy program, his or her email will not expire after four years, but after six when schooling at Butler is over.
Students who appear to be graduating this year will receive an email from Information Technology soon explaining when their email accounts will be shut off and how to go about forwarding mail to a new address.
Craig Stanley, senior systems analyst in Butler’s IT Department, said Aug. 1 seems to be a sensible cutoff date because students will likely know by this time if they will not be returning for another semester, and also because software licensing and other expenses are easily paid by this deadline.
Mail sent to students’ Butler email accounts can be forwarded to another account for up to one year after they are shut off.
“Years ago we didn’t do forwarding and emails were just shut off completely,” Stanley said. “But email is critical for things like job searches. People had big concerns about losing their information on their Butler emails, so now we provide the forwarding option.”
Stanley said students who wish to keep the “Butler name” in their email address can contact the alumni office to set up an alumni.butler.edu email address.
Students can also sign up with Bulldog Nation—a class directory for Butler alumni—should they wish to find other options to stay in touch with classmates once emails expire.
Items stored in BUFiles can also be forwarded to a new location before a student graduates, Stanley said. Instructions to do so are laid out on Butler IT’s website.
Stanley said his top choice for a new email provider would be Microsoft Outlook or Gmail, because they are likely familiar to recent Butler grads.
Butler graduate Ginny Swale said she felt she had ample time to forward her mail from her Butler account before graduating last year. Swale was also able to stay connected with Butler classmates and professors through social media.
“I was already friends with some of my professors on Facebook,” Swale said.
Students who may need a short extension or have a change of plans can contact the IT department to keep their email active past the Aug. 1 deadline.
