Within the next year, Miami University students will not have to worry about their Miami e-mail address disappearing after graduation: they will last a lifetime.
"We're very, very excited about this," said Micah Cooper, director of advanced technology partnerships at IT services. "Half of the people working on this are Miami alumni."
According to Randy Hollowell, training and publications coordinator at IT services, new students will be added and current students transferred to the new system beginning in the spring. Any student confirming admission for next fall will immediately be put into the new system, and then current students will be transferred over. After, alumni will have the option of joining the system as well.
Cooper said the hope is to begin adding students in February 2010 and for current students and alumni to be added by October 2010. They hope to shut down the current mail servers by December 2010.
Hollowell said Google would sponsor the system so students will have more storage space.
"Right now for students we have one gig(abyte) of space," Hollowell said. "With Google, we can up that to seven."
Cooper said the new system is less expensive for the university.
"The cost to us from Google is free," Cooper said.
He added, though, the cost to the university would be in the staff working on the project. He didn't think spending money on student e-mail accounts was necessary when a free service was available.
"We could spend tuition dollars for more (e-mail) storage or we could spend tuition dollars on academic initiatives," Cooper said.
Hollowell agreed.
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"There's no way we could afford seven gigs with what we have," Hollowell said.
Though Google will sponsor the accounts, the system will not be called "Gmail." The system will include a calendar, and according to Hollowell, a document feature would not be included just yet, but may be looked into in the future.
Cooper said these other features might elicit security issues.
"There are really big implications in using Google Docs," Cooper said. "There's strong federal privacy laws regarding student educational experience. We just need to make sure we don't violate any of our students' privacy."
Hollowell also said current students would not see any ads, though alumni accounts would have them and be more like a traditional Google account.
The system would still be accessed through MyMiami, Hollowell said. It may include a new design, although nothing has been decided upon.
Hollowell added other schools have already transferred to this system, including Kent State University and Vanderbilt University, which have both taken different approaches.
"With Vanderbilt, you'd never know it was through Google," Hollowell said. "With Kent, it looks just like Gmail."
Hollowell added IT services would put an FAQ on its Web site for students to have input and ask questions about the system.
"We're trying to anticipate what students are going to think about," Hollowell said. "With the FAQ page on IT help's site, we'll update it with new questions from students."
Security should not be a concern, according to Hollowell. Though alumni accounts would have ads, Hollowell assured IT services did not anticipate any problems from a security standpoint.
Cooper added the staff Google employs is a smart, committed group of people.
"I expect students will be concerned, we've anticipate that," Cooper said. "We want to make sure there are protections for our students. Privacy is extremely important to us and what it means for students."
Hollowell also emphasized the new system would only be for students and alumni. He said input on the new system was received partly from alumni relations.
"The idea is once the student has an e-mail, they'll have it for life," Hollowell said.
Faculty and staff, however, will remain on the current system, which does not offer the lifelong e-mail option, but eventually transferring them to the new system is not out of the question.
Faculty and staff accounts, in that case, would remain on the initial servers, but the transfer of student accounts to Google servers would free space on IT servers, according to Hollowell, allowing for IT to find another use for the extra space.
Cooper urged anyone with concerns to contact the IT support desk in Robertson Hall or by calling (513) 529-7900.
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