Sept. 22, 2009
University of Wisconsin-Stout has become only the second campus in the UW System to switch to an e-mail system for its students that is free for the university.
Beginning Sept. 24, UW-Stout will allow its students to begin using Microsoft Live@edu, a suite of communication and collaboration tools, instead of the UW-Stout-administered Microsoft Outlook system currently in place.
The change affects approximately 9,000 students. The other campus that uses an outside vendor for its student e-mail service is UW-Parkside.
“Some of the advantages to the student include savings to the student technology fund, significantly larger mailbox storage capacity and the ability for students to keep the exact e-mail account after graduating,” said Sasha King, director of computer services, learning and technology.
Douglas Wahl, UW-Stout chief information officer, said the current infrastructure needed to support the student e-mail system is wearing out. Replacing the system would have cost $300,000 over three years, he said.
“Switching to this Microsoft system will save our technology fund hundreds of thousands of dollars, while giving students a better system,” Wahl said.
King said the students’ e-mail capacity will be 100 times larger, calendars can be shared with family and friends, students will have 25 GB of online storage available and students will be able to keep their exact e-mail address when they graduate.
Students who are enrolled before Sept. 22 will have until March 24, 2010, to make the transition to a new e-mail address. The student domain name will change from @uwstout.edu to @my.uwstout.edu. E-mail sent to the students’ current addresses automatically will be transferred to the new addresses.
Students who enroll after Sept. 22 will have usernames that include four random numbers, e.g., doej7623@my.uwstout.edu. This new naming convention will prevent future users from receiving spam intended for the previous holder of that username. It also allows students to keep the e-mail address after graduation.
Microsoft said in a prepared statement: “Thousands of educational institutions, in more than 86 countries, are using Microsoft Live@edu for content development and collaboration. The program has proven to be a hit with universities and students, and we have millions of students that have signed up for the service to date.”
News reports have indicated that more than 10 million students are using Microsoft Live@edu.
Wahl said a variety of factors prevent UW-Stout from using an outside vendor for faculty and staff e-mail, including the need to preserve e-mail on campus to meet the requirements of the state’s Open Records Law.
For more information, contact Wahl at wahld@uwstout.edu or 715-232-2501.
