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E-mail Etiquette: What to know
Dr. Kregg Strehorn. He is an academic dean and can be reached at strehorn@acad.umass.edu.
Issue date: 9/5/07 Section: Editorial / Opinion
This article was previously printed in the Collegian and has been reprinted - with permission from the author - for the benefit of first-year students and others new to campus.
As someone who has daily contact with undergraduates, I often hear from frustrated students that they were not aware of certain academic regulations, or that they were never informed about an upcoming event or a change of policy. In almost every case, this frustration could have been avoided if all students regularly checked their University e-mail account. Here are some key reasons why you should use and read your UMass e-mail.
Official Communication
In this day of paperless communication, the University no longer sends grades or other important notices to a student's home or campus address. In fact, according to the University's Fall 2005 Email Communications Policy, the University's primary means of communicating official information is e-mail.
Further, the University will send official communications only to e-mail addresses distributed by OIT (also known as UMail addresses), and expects that such communications will be received and read in a timely fashion.
Students are, therefore, responsible for checking their University e-mail on a frequent and consistent basis to ensure that they are staying current with all official communications. In other words, even if you ignore it, you will be held accountable for the information that has been sent.
UMail "Problems"
You might be surprised to read that students regularly report problems with their UMail account, which sometimes comes down to the fact that it is not as fun or as easy to use as an e-mail vendor like Hotmail or Yahoo. I am not sure if it is because using the familiar e-mail account is more interesting and enjoyable or because UMail messages about serious issues are not as interesting or enjoyable, but some students choose to ignore their UMail or have it redirected ("forwarded") to their more familiar, personal e-mail address. As a result, they miss crucial University information because their familiar account treats the forwarded messages as Spam or, even worse, does not forward them at all.
As someone who has daily contact with undergraduates, I often hear from frustrated students that they were not aware of certain academic regulations, or that they were never informed about an upcoming event or a change of policy. In almost every case, this frustration could have been avoided if all students regularly checked their University e-mail account. Here are some key reasons why you should use and read your UMass e-mail.
Official Communication
In this day of paperless communication, the University no longer sends grades or other important notices to a student's home or campus address. In fact, according to the University's Fall 2005 Email Communications Policy, the University's primary means of communicating official information is e-mail.
Further, the University will send official communications only to e-mail addresses distributed by OIT (also known as UMail addresses), and expects that such communications will be received and read in a timely fashion.
Students are, therefore, responsible for checking their University e-mail on a frequent and consistent basis to ensure that they are staying current with all official communications. In other words, even if you ignore it, you will be held accountable for the information that has been sent.
UMail "Problems"
You might be surprised to read that students regularly report problems with their UMail account, which sometimes comes down to the fact that it is not as fun or as easy to use as an e-mail vendor like Hotmail or Yahoo. I am not sure if it is because using the familiar e-mail account is more interesting and enjoyable or because UMail messages about serious issues are not as interesting or enjoyable, but some students choose to ignore their UMail or have it redirected ("forwarded") to their more familiar, personal e-mail address. As a result, they miss crucial University information because their familiar account treats the forwarded messages as Spam or, even worse, does not forward them at all.
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