UA email or preferred email?
November 11, 2019
Email is the primary way that UAF communicates with students. From the time you apply for admission, and up to and beyond graduation, we use email to send you important messages, some of which require action on your part.
When you first get admitted or register for classes at any campus of the University of Alaska, we assign you a university email account formatted like "username@alaska.edu." This account remains active throughout your career as a student anywhere in the UA system. It is also part of a suite of integrated Google tools, such as a calendar and drive space, which the university provides as a service to you.
UA also allows you to enter and designate your "preferred" email address. UAF departments and faculty may contact you at your preferred email address, but are not required to do so. Some departments and faculty will only contact you at your UA email address. Which address we use depends on the department or the content of the email. If you write to an instructor using your non-UA preferred address, it is the instructor's choice whether to answer you there or to your UA address only.
Please take the following steps so you don't miss any important messages from your instructors or the university.
Claim your UA email account and log into it at least once. If you don't want to regularly check your UA email account, you can set it up to forward to another email account of your choice.
Designate your preferred email address in UAOnline (Personal Information > Manage Your Address, Email and Phone Information). Tip: Enter your cell phone number and opt in for text messages. When appropriate, some departments will use text messages for important and time-sensitive matters.
Update and confirm all of your contact information when prompted in UAOnline. UA asks students to confirm contact information, including preferred email address and cell phone number, every six months. Doing so will not only make the big loud red reminder go away, but also will ensure that you receive all important communications from the university.