Vanderbilt University is partnering with Google to offer its undergraduate students Gmail, Google’s e-mail offering. The service will be launched in early summer.
“Students have expressed great enthusiasm for this e-mail option. The Gmail interface is one with which they are familiar, and they appreciate the increase in storage capacity as well,” Mark Bandas, associate provost and dean of students, said. “I’m confident that many will move to Gmail in order to take advantage of the collaboration tools.”
Under the partnership, Vanderbilt undergraduate students will be able to choose Gmail instead of the standard VUmail e-mail. The Gmail accounts give students dramatically expanded storage capacity—over 6.5 gigabytes—that will continue to grow. Students will use their existing VUnetID to access the service and will maintain their vanderbilt.edu e-mail address.
There will be no disruption to their e-mail as they migrate from the existing VUmail service, and students who choose Gmail will have a month to migrate their VUmail archives if they wish.
In addition to Gmail, students will have access to all of the cutting-edge Google Apps for Education, which includes Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Talk calls and instant messaging, and Google Sites website builder.
After implementing the Google services for undergraduates, the university plans to explore expanding the program to include graduate students, faculty and staff.
In addition to Google, the university is working with Microsoft and other partners to offer additional options and services to the Vanderbilt community.
“Our new partnership with Google marks a continuation of the tradition of providing members of the Vanderbilt community a range of choice in how they meet their digital work and life needs,” Matthew Hall, assistant vice chancellor for information technology services and associate chief information architect, said. “Apple, AT&T, Joost, Microsoft, Napster, Ruckus, Sprint and Verizon are among the many partners with whom we work to bring new and innovative services to our community. We look forward to many more partnerships that accelerate technology’s positive impact on Vanderbilt teaching, discovery and patient care.”
Visit http://its.vanderbilt.edu for more information about information technology at Vanderbilt.
Media contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu