Information for University Employees

Official Work Email Requirements

Information for Student Employees

Student Employees and University Business Records

Student employees are subject to UT's email forwarding rules for employees. Forwarding business email accounts to a personal email account (including a personal UTmail account) is prohibited by university policy. More information can be found here.

Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) recommends that student employees do not use their Microsoft 365 @my.utexas.edu mailbox to conduct university business on behalf of a university department (conducting their own business with the university is of course fully expected). Supervisors should ensure that student workers have access to a shared mailbox for conducting such business.

Why Use Shared Mailboxes to Protect Student Privacy and University Records?

Office 365, as the primary university business email service, has heightened security requirements and safeguards to protect university data; these requirements and safeguards extend to student @my.utexas.edu accounts. However, emails created by student employees during employment are subject to the same data and records retention requirements and policies applicable to staff and faculty. Additionally, when a student uses their personal @my.utexas.edu account to conduct university business, their personal email may be exposed to open records requests.

Therefore, it is important to separate personal and business emails and accounts.

Refer to the documentation below about how to use shared mailboxes.

Shared Mailboxes for Student Workers

Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) recommends that departments create or use an Microsoft 365 shared mailbox for student workers to conduct business on behalf of departments at the University.

For easier mailbox management, departments may create generically named shared mailboxes that are used by multiple student workers during a semester, e.g., DEPT-studentworkers@austin.utexas.edu or DEPT.front.desk@austin.utexas.edu, and/or reused by different student workers from semester to semester, e.g., DEPT-intern@austin.utexas.edu. Departments may determine that using an existing shared mailbox that can be used by both staff and student workers is the best solution, e.g., DEPT-admin@austin.utexas.edu.

Benefits of Using Shared Mailboxes for Student Workers

• The staff supervisor will own, manage, and monitor the mailbox.
  
  • The supervisor will grant the the student worker(s)s full access permissions to the mailbox so they may conduct departmental business.
  • Supervisors, or IT support, can use self-service web tools to add or remove student workers from the shared mailbox.
• No business correspondence will be lost and university records are retained.
  
  • University business emails created by student workers on behalf of their department will be retained, accessible, and managed by the mailbox manager (supervisor) and other mailbox users.
  • Subsequent student workers will have access to past conversations to ensure continuity in business operations.
  • Personal student-worker emails will be in their personal @my.utexas.edu account, protecting student privacy in the event of an open records request.

Resources and Additional Information

• Supervisors or IT support staff can contact the Service Desk with any questions or concerns.
• For information on creating or managing shared mailboxes, please visit https://ut.service-now.com/sp?id=kb_article&number=KB0010989.
• For questions about university records requirements, please reach out to Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) via email at rims@austin.utexas.edu.

For questions about university records requirements, please Records Management Requirements please reach out to Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) via email at rims@austin.utexas.edu.

Open Records Requests

University electronic resources are subject to open records requests under the Texas Government Code, Chapter 552 Public Information Act (PIA). This includes personal and business email accounts sponsored by the university.  

UT EMPLOYEES USE CAUTION: All university emails and files must be stored in approved, university-managed accounts and storage locations. Do not use a personal account to store university records or conduct university business. All accounts used for university business are subject to open records requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This includes personal accounts that have been converted to business accounts for university business purposes. Review the alternative services you may use as an employee, or reach out to Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) for further guidance.

Additional Information

• UT Austin Information Resources Acceptable Use & Security Policy Agreement

Questions?

• For questions about the policy, contact the Information Security Office.
• For questions about classifying your university business emails as university records, contact Records and Information Management Services (RIMS).
• For questions about moving from a personal email account to a university email account, contact your college, school, or unit desktop support or IT personnel, or contact the Service Desk:
  

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  For questions about classifying your university business emails as university records, contact Records and Information Management Services (RIMS).