Representatives from the Office of the Chief Information Officer discussed University-wide e-mail problems and proposed solutions to these problems in a Faculty Senate meeting held Tuesday.
Moira Gerety, UNM’s deputy CIO, proposed two solutions to the Faculty Senate — to work to connect the multiple e-mail systems spread between the Health Sciences Center and main campus, and to move to a uniform e-mail system throughout the University. Gerety’s office recommended the second, she said, because UNM units would be more efficient.
“It’s like this: Do we want UNM to be a big strip mall of e-mail options that are all connected or one institution?” she said.
Faculty Senate President Richard Wood asked senate representatives to discuss e-mail options with their departments.
Mike Campbell, director of PC Systems and Support for UNMH, said a University-wide “internal scan” was taken that included forums, surveys and conversations with faculty members and students to identify e-mail problem solutions. He said 2,606 students, 421 faculty and 764 staff members responded to the survey.
UNM’s 40 different e-mail systems use multiple user IDs and passwords, are inconsistent and force users to use external e-mail accounts, survey results said.
Campbell said the survey showed that 95 percent of students use their UNM WebMail, but only one third of them forward their UNM WebMail to personal e-mail accounts.
The survey said 97 percent of students and faculty are satisfied with their personal e-mail accounts, but only 53 percent of students and 59 percent of faculty are satisfied with their UNM WebMail. Gerety said cost is also an issue, with $900,000 spent each year on e-mail and calendar services, totaling $15 each for the 60,000 NetIDs used in the UNM system.
Student Miranda Lee said she doesn’t like UNM e-mail’s layout. She said using the UNM’s e-mail interface is problematic because it’s not always compatible with her Mac computer, something 30 percent of the faculty said is a problem.
“I don’t want all my e-mail to go to the UNM e-mail, but now I have to make sure I check both of my e-mail accounts because when an e-mail comes from UNM, it’s usually important,” she said.
