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Integrated Information Technology Services

Utica University Email

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Utica University Email

POLICY:

Email is Utica University’s sole accepted mechanism for official electronic communication in the normal conduct of Utica University business. All faculty, staff, and students who are affiliated with Utica, including employees of the University’s academic partners and auxiliary employees, are required to use their Utica University email account in conjunction with any communication system contained within University-approved learning management, student information, or enterprise resource management systems for email communications with faculty, staff, and students that could be considered part of a student’s official academic record or to conduct University business.

All email messages initiated by Utica University faculty and staff, as well as responses to inquiries, must include a name, title, office location, and phone number, regardless of whether the email account is for an individual (e.g., sampleuser@utica.edu) or a department (e.g., sampleoffice@utica.edu), and regardless of whether the response is from a PC or a smart phone, tablet, or other non-PC device.

Individuals who are assigned Utica University email accounts are strongly encouraged not to use Utica University email addresses to conduct non-University business or for social media accounts not affiliated with the University. Examples would include TIAA and banking accounts or Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The University owns all email accounts. Subject to underlying copyright and other intellectual property rights under applicable laws and University policies, the University also owns data transmitted or stored using University email accounts.

Note: Utica University recognizes that there are other mechanisms for communicating with faculty, staff, and students, including cell phones, texting, and personal conversations. However, for the protection of the University, approved email systems must be also be used to document information that could be considered part of a student’s official academic record and may be needed by the University at a later date. Examples include informing students that they have not made sufficient academic progress or requests for clarification regarding regulations.

For faculty teaching classes, this policy does not prohibit the use of textbook companion systems or commercial websites used in support of the learning experience. However, to ensure compliance with document retention requirements and also to ensure 24/7 support for faculty and students, only approved learning management and student information systems will be supported by the University’s Integrated Information Technology Services.

Exceptions:
This policy does not apply to correspondence with students via communication services from University-approved vendors as defined below.
 
Employees of the University’s academic partners and auxiliary employees who do not communicate directly with faculty and students may, with permission from a Utica University official, be exempted from this policy.
 
The University uses an emergency alert system that may generate emails, texts, and other messages when there is a need to communicate broadly with members of the University community, and those alerts are exempt from this policy.

SCOPE:

This policy applies to any user with an active email account including, but not limited to, Utica University faculty, staff, students, alumni, retires, academic partners, auxiliary staff, as well as non-Utica employees who have been assigned a Utica University email account. See Exceptions, above.

REASON FOR POLICY:

This policy is designed to standardize communication channels; permit archiving in accordance with document retention guidelines; ensure that official Utica University communications are sent, received, and read in a timely manner; and protect the University’s operations.

DEFINITIONS:

Utica University Email: The electronic mail system through which faculty, staff, students, and non-Utica employees are assigned unique email addresses and are given access to a Utica University email account and related services.
 
Data: For purposes of this policy, “data” refers to emails, email attachments that have not been saved to a desktop or other file storage location, and files that have been saved to Google Drive (including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and more) and are therefore linked to the user’s email account.
 
Spam: Unsolicited messages sent to large numbers of recipients for commercial activities or personal purposes.
 
Learning Management Systems: Web-based software packages that allow for the management and delivery of course content in a secure online environment.
 
Generic Email Accounts: Accounts that belong to a department or a group of users rather than an individual employee. Examples include email accounts for offices, governance groups, and committees.
 
Manager: An individual who has authorization and permissions to change the password for a generic account. A manager may also delegate the generic account to others and/or share the login credentials of the account with others.
 
Academic Partners: The entities that Utica University works with to provide online and hybrid programs.
 
Auxiliary Employees: Employees of contracted service providers such as the Bookstore, Campus Safety, and Facilities Management.
 
Vendors: Companies with which the University conducts business on an as-needed basis. Does not include academic partners or contracted service providers.

PROCEDURE:

Creating a Utica University Email Account
Access to Utica University’s email system is provided via email accounts. Email accounts may be created for Utica University faculty, staff, and students, for employees of the University’s academic partners, for auxiliary employees, and for vendors, providing that applicable processes have been followed. The policy for and processes related to creating individual Utica University user accounts, including email accounts, are described in the User Accounts policy.
 
Generic Accounts
Requests for generic emails accounts should be directed to the Utica University Help Desk. Each generic email account must have one or more managers. Managers are designated Utica University employees who will request the account’s creation, be responsible for checking email and/or delegating access, and have the ability to change passwords. Delegated users do not have the ability to change passwords, but can send and receive email from the account. Since generic email accounts may have multiple users, personal information such as paystub notifications will not be sent to these addresses.
 
All-Constituent or Global Email
The Morning Mention communication system should be used whenever possible. Details regarding submissions can be found by visiting https://www.utica.edu/directory/marketing-and-communications/morning-mention. Individual campus-wide email messages are reserved for critical and time sensitive information. The following Offices are authorized to send campus-wide messages pertaining to their respective areas through a designated administrative user: Academic Affairs, Campus Safety, Emergency Management, Facilities Management, Human Resources, Integrated Information Technology Services, Office of the President, and Office of the Dean of Students.
 
Use and Misuse
Use of Utica University email must comply with all University policies, including the Responsible Use of University Computing Resources, the Employee Code of Conduct, and the Student Code of Conduct. Examples of misuse include, but are not limited to:
 
  • Sending harassing or discriminatory messages
  • Use of University email for commercial activities or personal purposes
  • Use of email to send spam to University or non-University resources
  • Alteration of email address, display name, or message body to misrepresent the sender or purpose of the message
  • Altering, disabling, interfering with, or circumventing any aspect of the University’s email or global email service
  • Use of email for any malicious, unlawful, invasive, infringing, defamatory, or fraudulent purpose
  • Testing or reverse-engineering the email services in order to find limitations, take advantage of vulnerabilities, and/or evade email filtering capabilities
  • Using email to violate or in violation of any University policy
  • Using email to violate or in violation of any law or regulation
 
Data Retention
Individuals are responsible for saving email messages to comply with the University’s Records Retention policy. Unless a legal hold has been placed on an account, email messages will be subject to the University’s email service provider’s purge policies, which may change from time to time without notice.
 
While under special circumstances, typically involving legal or regulatory responses, lost email may be retrievable, restoration of lost email messages is not part of normal email operations. The ability to restore lost email depends on many factors such as user’s status, notification of legal holds, and length of time since the message was deleted. Users of Utica email are therefore encouraged to archive important email messages, both received and sent emails, in designated folders to avoid the purging process and to facilitate retrieval of messages if necessary.
 
Standard folders are currently purged according to the following schedule:
 
Trash – 30 days (automatic action)
Spam - 30 days (automatic action)
All other email folders – saved until account is deleted
 
Security/Privacy of Communications

Utica University attempts to provide secure, private, and reliable email services by following sound information technology practices. However, Utica University cannot guarantee the security, privacy or reliability of its email service. All email users should, therefore, exercise extreme caution in using Utica University email to communicate confidential or sensitive matters.

Email containing protected data such as Social Security numbers or detailed health and financial information should be sent only via methods that encrypt the data. If encryption is not an available option, the user can fax, hand deliver, or use postal mail for the transfer of protected information. For more information on how to transfer protected information, users can contact the Director of Information Security.
 
Email Account Retention and Termination
Any account may be locked, accessed by someone other than the account holder and/or deleted in response to violations of any Utica University policy, to provide increased security to the Utica University network, to comply with investigations and litigation holds, or to ensure business continuity. The University reserves the right to lock, revoke, and/or delete any user email account for reasons not limited to those listed below. Such cases require prior approval from the University’s President, the Vice President for Legal Affairs, the Office of Human Resources, the Director of Information Security, or their designees. Appeals may be made to any of the listed individuals.
 
Students Who Leave Utica before Graduating
Students marked as inactive retain their email and network accounts for one year in order to facilitate communication should they decide to return to Utica, with email and BannerWeb remaining accessible from off-campus. After one year of academic inactivity, such accounts and any data associated with those accounts will be deleted with the exception of accounts with financial holds.
 
Students Who Graduate from Utica (Alumni)
Students who have graduated from Utica University have the option of renewing their email accounts and can do so by clicking on a link within the email that is sent to them from the University following graduation. Alumni will be asked to renew their email accounts every six months. Alumni must follow all Utica University policies relating to the use of their email accounts (e.g., Responsible Use of University Computing Resources) or risk having their email privileges revoked. See also User Accounts policy for how this affects network drives and other services. Alumni accounts lose access to Cloud Storage systems, including but not limited to Google Drive, 250 days after their last active student semester. Automated emails will remind alumni of this in advance so they may download or transfer files as they wish.
 
Alumni who have not renewed their email accounts within one year following graduation will receive notification that their accounts will be deleted within 21 days unless they renew, with the exception of accounts with financial holds. Once deactivated, alumni accounts may be re-activated upon request. However, all data from the original student account will have been deleted.
 
Faculty, Staff, and Auxiliary Employees Who Leave Utica University
Except when otherwise arranged to serve the University’s needs, access to faculty, staff, and auxiliary user accounts, including all contents, expires once the person leaves the University. To ensure business continuity, the University may retain former employees’ surrendered email accounts for a period of time to allow supervisors to have access to suspended accounts or to accommodate legal holds. In cases when email accounts remain active, vice presidents, deans, and supervisors should approve automated responses to email sent to employees who have left the University.

Vice presidents, deans, or supervisors who approve access and/or automated responses must notify the Office of Human Resources and Integrated Information Technology Services as to how long the access and automated responses should remain active, up to a one-year maximum. See also User Accounts Policy for how this affects network drives and other services.
 
Faculty, staff, and auxiliary employees who are Utica University students and who leave the University before graduating will surrender their user name and account access upon separation, but will receive a new user account. To ensure that course-related data is preserved, students should archive course-related emails and files in designated folders and transfer course data to their new accounts before they leave employment. Once they have left the University as employees, individuals may request that the University transfer student-related email to the new account and, within reason, the University will do so. Keeping student-related email and communication in separate folders will help to facilitate the process. See also User Accounts policy for how this affects network drives and other services.

Faculty, staff, and auxiliary employees who are Utica University graduates and who leave the University will surrender their user name and account access and content upon separation. Former Utica employees who are alumni and who wish to retain a Utica account will be assigned a new user name and will be given the appropriate access privileges. However, no data or email will be transferred into the new alumni account.
 
Faculty and Staff Who Retire from Utica University
Faculty and staff members who retire from the University, including those who are awarded emeritus status, may retain access to their email accounts, except in cases when doing so may compromise business continuity. Access will be extended automatically, unless there is a reason to revoke access, such as a violation of the Responsible Use of University Computing Resources policy, or to ensure business continuity. The University will send retirees an annual email asking account holders to confirm that they wish to retain the account. In some cases, supervisors may request access to email accounts of retired employees for a period of time to ensure business continuity. Examples of the need for supervisor access may include, but are not limited to, communications between Utica University and grant or governmental agencies such as the Department of Education, faculty, staff, current and prospective students, as well as donors, vendors, partners, grant providers, governmental agencies, and others having business with Utica University.
 
Academic Partners and Vendors
Utica administrators who request accounts for employees of academic partners or vendors are responsible for periodically reviewing those accounts and submitting requests to the Help Desk that the accounts of those no longer affiliated with Utica University be deactivated. See also the User Accounts policy.
 
Terminations and Revisions
Under normal circumstances, access to resources may be terminated, locked, or revised under any of the following situations:
 
  • The user’s employment is terminated (includes both employees and student workers).
  • The user has violated Utica’s Employee Code of Conduct, the Code of Student Conduct, or other policy.
  • The user’s job functions change and access to certain resources is no longer required.
  • The end of the pre-determined access time frame has been reached.
  • As noted above, the student leaves Utica before graduating.
  • The University is required to meet legal obligations.
  • Per written request of the appropriate supervisor.
During times of duress or any other reason deemed appropriate, access may be terminated upon request from the University’s President, the Vice President for Legal Affairs, the Office of Human Resources, the Director of Information Security, or their designees.

Changes in Service
Changes to an individual’s status may result in immediate changes to their account, without prior notification.
 
Notification of any system wide changes to email service, including change of providers and elimination of accounts, will be sent via Utica University email with at least 30 days’ notice. Utica University is not responsible for users who fail to read and take action in response to these notifications.

RESPONSIBILITY:

It is the responsibility of Utica University faculty, staff, students, academic partners, and auxiliary employees to regularly check and respond to email and to use the University’s email system for all official University business. This applies to individual and generic email accounts. It is also those individuals’ responsibility to safeguard emails and associated data, including avoiding the use of Utica email for personal business and archiving important emails and data in designated folders.
 
It is the responsibility of vice presidents, deans, or supervisors who approve delegated access and/or automated responses for employees who have left or retired from the University to notify the Office of Human Resources and Integrated Information Technology Services as to how long the access and automated responses should remain active, up to a one-year maximum, and to follow separation processes as determined by the Office of Human Resources.
 
It is the responsibility of the individual requesting accounts for auxiliary employees, employees of the University’s academic partners, and vendors to periodically review those accounts and request that the accounts of those no longer affiliated with Utica University be deactivated.
 
It is the responsibility of the manager of the generic email accounts to periodically review those accounts and notify IITS when those accounts are no longer needed.
 
It is the responsibility of Integrated Information Technology Services to set up and maintain the programmatic processes that initiate email account generation, to create individual and/or generic emails not handled by automated processes, and to provide access to and/or terminate email accounts as outlined above.

ENFORCEMENT:

Enforcement of Utica University policies is the responsibility of the office or offices listed in the “Resources/Questions” section of each policy. The responsible office will contact the appropriate authority regarding faculty or staff members, students, vendors, or visitors who violate policies.
 
Utica University acknowledges that University policies may not anticipate every possible issue that may arise. The University therefore reserves the right to make reasonable and relevant decisions regarding the enforcement of this policy. All such decisions must be approved by an officer of the University (i.e. President, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Financial Affairs, Senior Vice President for Student Life and Enrollment Management, or Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel).

RESOURCES/QUESTIONS:

For more information, please contact the Utica University Help Desk or the Office of Human Resources.
 
See also the University’s Responsible Use of University Computing Resources and User Accounts policies.

Please note that other Utica University policies may apply or be related to this policy. To search for related policies, use the Keyword Search function of the online policy manual.
Effective Date: 03/24/2015
Promulgation Date: 03/30/2015
Date Last Revised: 12/19/2022

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