University Computer Help Desk

Overview of email aliases

Email aliases are commonly used by departments and other university organizations for sending and receiving email.

Email Aliases

An email alias is an email address associated with one or more members. An email alias is not an email account; it does not have its own user name or password. Instead, email sent to an email alias address is delivered to the members of the alias.

Departments and other groups will often create email aliases so they have public email addresses for their organizations. An email alias can have many members (or only one), depending on the needs of the person requesting the alias.

Only grad students, doctoral students, and full-time faculty and staff can request email aliases. When an email alias is created, an owner of the alias must be specified. This can either be the person requesting the alias or another member of the University. The owner is responsible for complying with all University policies.

Example of an Email Alias

Reggie Redbird is the head of an organization called Illinois State Athletics. He wants to put an email address on the Illinois State Athletics website where fans can send in their comments, but he doesn't want to put his personal email address on the site.

Reggie requests an email alias called IllinoisStateAthetics@ilstu.edu. He needs to add members to the email alias, so he adds himself, his administrative assistant, and three other employees. When an email is sent to IllinoisStateAthletics@ilstu.edu, it is delivered to all the members of the email alias.

Email Nicknames

An email nickname is a special kind of email alias, but it applies only to an individual's ULID email address, whereas a true email alias can be applied to many email addresses (i.e. a true email alias can have many members). For example, Reggie Redbird's email address is rrredbi@ilstu.edu. He could set up an email nickname like reggie.redbird@ilstu.edu and give out that email address to his friends and colleagues.

More Information

For more information about email aliases, refer to: