Email and Messaging

Service Owner: Andrew Johnson

NIU’s Division of Information Technology (DoIT) provides email, calendaring, and messaging software to current students, faculty, and staff. Email and email forwarding options are also available to retirees, alumni, and other university affiliates as sponsored accounts.

Email: Office 365

Students, faculty and staff have a Microsoft Office 365 account that includes email. Features include:

  • Email accessible with an Outlook client, Outlook on the web, and via Outlook on Android and Outlook on iOS devices.
  • Calendars for individuals and resources that can be shared with and moderated by others.
  • Microsoft Office applications for both work and personal use that include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and more.
  • OneDrive for Business provides individual cloud storage that can be shared with others and edited with Microsoft Office online.
  • Spam protection through Exchange Online Protection and individual spam filters.
  • Microsoft Teams for online audio and video chats with individuals or groups.

Retirees and Alumni

  • Retiree accounts may be requested once a retirement date has been specified. Retirees must join the Annuitants Association to receive access to a full email/calendaring account.  Retirees may also choose an niu.edu-branded email forwarding service.
  • Members of the NIU Alumni Association may request an niu.edu branded email forwarding service by emailing alums@niu.edu.

Email Alias

NIU email addresses have an email alias. This email alias can be changed and updated, but then it cannot be reused or recovered by anyone (including yourself) for one year. If you change your alias, all incoming emails to your old alias will not be delivered and are not recoverable by any means.

Mailing Lists

NIU email users should create their own distribution lists using Microsoft O365 Groups or Teams.

Mass Emails

Often, submitting news and calendar events are a better way to communicate with the entire campus.

If you must email a broad group of recipients outside of your own division, you must request a mass email to a specific group from NIU's Division of Enrollment Management, Marketing and Communications. You may email recipients in your own Division provided you follow the requirements outlined in the Mass Electronic Communications Authorization and Distribution Procedures.

Safety Notification (Text)

NIU's Department of Police and Public Safety uses a safety notification system to send NIU alert text messages to all NIU faculty, staff and students.

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