Overview of email at Illinois State University
Access your email account through iCampus, with a client like Thunderbird, or on your mobile device.
Email at Illinois State University
There are two types of email available at Illinois State University.
- IMAP email
- Exchange email
All members of Illinois State with an active ULID are granted an email account on the campus IMAP mail server. This is the primary email account for students, as well as some faculty and staff at the University.
Faculty and staff can also request access to Exchange. Depending on decisions made by your department, you might be allowed or required to use Exchange for email. In this case, you would use Exchange rather than the campus IMAP mail server for email.
Your Email Address
Your ULID is the "user name" portion of your email address. You can use either @ilstu.edu or @illinoisstate.edu as the "domain" portion of your email address.
Your email address follows this format:
- yourULID@ilstu.edu
- yourULID@illinoisstate.edu
- Example: Reggie Redbird's email address can be written as either rrredbi@ilstu.edu or rrredbi@illinoisstate.edu. Both are valid.
Email Nickname
You can also set up an email nickname for your email address if you wish. Your email nickname is based on your name, just like your ULID, but provides a more recognizable address. For example, Reggie Redbird could request reggie.redbird@illinoisstate.edu as an email nickname.
Email Aliases
As an employee of the University or as a member of a campus organization, you might also be an owner or member of one or more email aliases. An email alias is an address associated with one or more members. It 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. For example, Reggie Redbird belongs to an organization called Illinois State Athletic and belongs to the IllinoisStateAthetics@ilstu.edu email alias.
Email Forwarding
You can forward your email to another email address if you wish. If you set up an email forward, email messages sent to your Illinois State email address will be redirected to the email address you specify.
How to Access Email
There are several ways you can access your email, some of which depend on the type of email you are using (IMAP or Exchange).
IMAP Email
You have several options for accessing your IMAP email account.
- On the Web - iCampus, RedbirdMail
- Email Client - Thunderbird, Outlook, Mac Mail, and others
- Mobile Device - iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, and others
Instructions for setting up your email client or mobile device can be found in the Email and Phone sections of the the University Computer Help Desk website, respectively.
Exchange Email
You have several options for accessing your Exchange email account.
- On the Web - Outlook Web App (OWA)
- Email Client - Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2011, Mac Mail
- Mobile Device - iPhone, Android 2.2 (or higher), BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, and others
Instructions for setting up your email client or mobile device can be found in the Exchange and Phone sections of the Help Desk website, respectively.
Expired Password
Your password expires every 60 days. When your password expires, you are locked out of your IMAP email account until you change it. After changing your password, you will be able to log into email again.
Additional Email Services
In addition to the standard email services described above, Illinois State also provides these additional email services.
Virus and Spam Protection
Virus scans take place at the server level, and all incoming email is scanned before it is delivered to your Inbox. This adds a layer of protection beyond antivirus software you may be running on your computer.
All incoming email is also evaluated to determine if it is spam, or junk mail. Email sent from known spammers is blocked automatically. Emails suspected of being spam are flagged with the [ISU_SPAM] tag in the subject line and are automatically placed in your Junk mailbox.
Automatic Removal of Deleted Email and Spam Email
To help you manage unwanted email, old, deleted messages and spam emails are automatically removed from your account every 30 days. If you use the IMAP mail server, only messages in your Trash and Junk folders are affected by automatic email removal. If you use Exchange for email, only messages in your Deleted Items and Junk E-mail folders are affected.
Listservs
Listservs are used at Illinois State by faculty, staff, and students to receive announcements and to communicate about classes, business, technology, and many other issues. You are automatically subscribed to some listservs based on your affiliation, and you can sign up for others based on your interests and membership in organizations or departments on campus.