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UofM Email Guidelines

Mass Email Procedures

*Mass emails in this instance is referring to internal emails sent to "all faculty, staff and students; all students; all faculty and staff; etc."

University-wide Email Distribution

University mass email is to be reserved for those announcements containing urgent and/or critical University information and should be used for:

  • Messages that directly relate to carrying out the business of the University.
  • Messages that relate to changes in University policy or those that communicate critical time sensitive issues.
  • Messages that are of interest to a vast number of the recipients.
  • Announcements of new leadership appointments at the level of dean or above, or in a case where the majority of campus interacts with the position to carry out business of the University.
  • Messages that inform a select group of people (e.g. faculty, staff, students, members of a specific school or department, etc.) of an announcement or event related to their specific role within the University.

The potential misuse of mass email is also recognized. The purpose of the following provides guidance for the appropriate use of mass email at University of Memphis, and when necessary, the approval to send mass email through the enterprise UofM Mass email system.

Announcements that do not meet the criteria of urgency and/or critical University information should seek other methods of relaying their information, such as the Master Calendar, This Week, Student Government E-news, University Website, UC/FIT Information Screens, Social Media, Alumni Association E-news and/or other information sources.

Inappropriate use of mass email includes, but is not limited to:

  • Messages that are inconsistent with the mission of the University of Memphis.
  • Messages that are personal in nature.
  • Messages that are commercial in nature - with the exception of those messages that are in support of University business and are approved by the stipulations defined in this policy.

Authorization to Send

Authorization to send mass email is automatically granted in the following three cases:

  1. Local Authority
    Schools and academic departments are authorized to send messages to their students, faculty, or staff, without any further approvals.

  2. Official University Announcements
    Certain administrative departments that need to make periodic announcements to members of the University of Memphis community are granted authority to send mass email via the UofM email system, maintained by UofM Information Technology Services, for matters of University business.

    The following offices have been granted authority to send campus-wide emails after discussion and review with the mass email ad-hoc committee.

    Target Groups (University-wide) Authorized Offices
    Students Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Information Technology Services, Office of the Registrar, Vice President for Student Affairs, Vice President for Business and Finance, Division of External Relations, Physical Plant, Police Services
    Faculty Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Information Technology Services, Vice President for Research, Vice President for Business and Finance, Human Resources, Faculty Senate, Division of External Relations, Physical Plant, Police Services
    Staff Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Information Technology Services, Vice President for Research, Vice President for Business and Finance, Human Resources, Staff Senate, Division of External Relations, Physical Plant, Police Services
  3. Emergency
    In a UofM community-wide emergency, approval may be bypassed. As is detailed in UofM's Crisis Management Plan, emergency communications are coordinated by the Division of External Relations. The contact for emergency communications is the Director of Media Relations or the Vice President for External Relations.

 

All mass emails must be sent by the primary division/department.
Ex: Graduate School emails being sent to all students would be sent through the Office of the Provost.

Each division/department head is an approved mass email sender and is allowed two designees to send on his/her behalf. Each designee must be appointed by the leader and cannot be on probation.

Approvals

The Department of Marketing and Communication is the approval authority in order to be granted access to university groups and lists necessary for the sending of campus-wide mass emails. Emails should be sent to the department's marketing manager at least 48 hours before the desired send time. Edits by Marketing and Communication are not suggestions, they are final edits.

Requests to send out mass emails must be approved by the appropriate division/department head and forwarded the Director of Media Relations and the Vice President for External Relations for review.  Those requests that are not consistent with the above criteria are subject to approval by the External Relations Policy Taskforce. The Director of Media Relations will coordinate all requests. Permission to send a campus-wide mass email may not be granted if it does not fit with the criteria detailed above.

Procedures to Send a Mass Email

To promote institutional operating efficiency and network security, the following guidelines are intended to prevent degrading of email services during working hours:

  • A mass e-mail message should be brief, self-explanatory, clear, and concise, and should only be used for important messages relevant to all/a majority of recipients.
  • Avoid sending frequent or repeated messages. Weekly, monthly or quarterly electronic newsletters are preferred. If a reminder email is needed, approval must be provided by the Vice President of External Relations.
  • Send collaborative messages with others at the University to avoid message redundancy.
  • Avoid sending attachments as they consume disk space and degrade server performance. A link to a Web site (URL) or a document sharing solution is preferred. If it is necessary to send attachments, the total message size should be less than 5 MB. Arrangements for placement of files on a Web server can be made via your departmental Web author.
  • Messages sent by University email addresses must be consistent with existing University policies (See Email Use (IT6008) and Acceptable Use of Information and Technology Resources Policy (IT6003)).
  • In general, mass email must NOT be used for commercial advertisement purposes.
  • All mass emails are to be scheduled on the Mass Email Calendar to ensure multiple mass emails are not sent simultaneously or in the same day.

Message Formatting

All messages must include the following at the time of submission for approval:

  • Clear and compelling subject line
  • Name(s) of the person(s) or department sending the message
  • Contact information for the person designated to handle further questions and comments
  • Date intended for distribution
  • Messages should be clear and concise – no more than one page with no attachments.
  • Additional information may be made available via a link in the text of the email.

Guidelines for Composing an Email for University Business

Email signatures should follow the guidelines outlined by the University at https://www.memphis.edu/emailsignatures.

To ensure a consistent brand image, please follow these guidelines when creating an email:

  • The email background should be white with no graphics added
  • Type should be Calibri font, black text and between 12-16 pt font size
  • Additional text within the signature area is prohibited

For additional support, contact mktgrequests@memphis.edu.