<!-- BEGIN ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->
		<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://widget.odiogo.com/odiogo_js.php?feed_id=687068&amp;platform=wp&amp;version=2.5.7"></script>
		
		<!-- END ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->{"id":1504,"date":"2012-02-01T13:09:28","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T13:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.slewth.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1504"},"modified":"2012-02-02T10:04:22","modified_gmt":"2012-02-02T10:04:22","slug":"university-email-a-phd-exit-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/2012\/02\/01\/university-email-a-phd-exit-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"University Email: A PhD Exit Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\t\t<!-- BEGIN ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->\r\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" language=\"javascript\">\r\n\t\t<!--\r\n\t\t\/\/ ODIOGO_START:do_NOT_remove_this_comment\r\n\t\tshowOdiogoReadNowButton (\"687068\", \"University Email: A PhD Exit Strategy\", \"1504\", 290, 55);\r\n\t\t\/\/ -->\r\n\t\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t<br\/>\r\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" language=\"javascript\">\r\n\t\t<!--\r\n\t\tshowInitialOdiogoReadNowFrame (\"687068\", \"1504\", 290, 0);\r\n\t\t\/\/ ODIOGO_END:do_NOT_remove_this_comment\r\n\t\t\/\/ -->\r\n\t\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t<!-- END ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->\r\n\t\t\n<p><strong>This post marks the third\u00a0instalment\u00a0in an occasional series on the underbelly of the PhD. \u00a0This week: Developing your exit strategy.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slewth.co.uk\/blog\/2012\/02\/01\/university-email-a-phd-exit-strategy\/email-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1508\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1508\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-width: 0px; margin: 5px;\" title=\"email icon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/email1-150x150.png\" alt=\"email icon\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>So you\u2019ve submitted your PhD. Congratulations. OMG, you did it. Two gold-embossed hardbound copies handed over. \u00a0Maybe some tears. \u00a0Now you simply have to extricate yourself from postgraduate life and reconnect with the real world, your friends, your family and get some hobbies and exercise.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, things do not stop, or even start properly here. There are administrative tasks that you will have to undertake following submission, for which there may be little information available. So let\u2019s come to the point; this post is not about moving on, job hunting or developing your research career: it is about sorting out your university email. Thrilling, I know \u2013 but bear with me.<\/p>\n<p>First thing\u2019s first. Your email account has been an academically sanctioned identity for three or more years. And, unless you have a particularly benevolent institution that guarantees email for life, your account is about to end. Full stop.\u00a0 You may receive a letter asking you to \u2018forward all important emails to an external account\u2019 before your account is sedated (suspended) and put out of its misery (erased). If, like me, you have come to rely on your university email, you need an exit strategy, fast.<\/p>\n<p>First you need to recognise how important your email account is. My university email had been honed over the years; I\u2019ve backed up chapters of my PhD and numerous other documents by emailing them to myself. My Outlook address book was incomplete \u2013 but the Outlook search function gave me access to details of hundreds of connections. The account also automatically sifted listserv messages from groups I\u2019ve subscribed to, filing them for me to read, or search for specific keywords when I had time. These included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Society for Disability Studies (SDS) mailing list:\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:sds_listserv@uic.edu\">sds_listserv@uic.edu<\/a><\/li>\n<li>The <a title=\"Association for Learning Technology\" href=\"http:\/\/www.alt.ac.uk\">Association for Learning Technology<\/a> \u00a0(ALT) mailing list<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"mailto:Disability-research@jiscmail.ac.uk\">Disability-research@jiscmail.ac.uk<\/a> A free network dedicated to disability research with a distinguished and global membership.<\/li>\n<li>Dis-Forum <a href=\"mailto:dis-forum@jiscmail.ac.uk\">dis-forum@jiscmail.ac.uk<\/a> A network of disabled students and disability support staff in higher education, primarily focussed on the UK<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition, all the projects I\u2019ve worked on, applications I\u2019ve made, files I\u2019ve sent and received, funders I\u2019ve communicated with, institutions I\u2019ve visited \u2013 everything is recorded in my inbox. \u00a0In short, email represented a resource too important to lose, especially given the fact that networks and contacts are essential to next steps in academia. Now, two essential factors come into play. They&#8217;re so important; so you can quote me.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Your email is not yours. It belongs to your university.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Your university email address constitutes and validates your academic identity. This signifier is about to expire.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These two facts have various implications. Each requires action.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 1: <\/strong>Check the conditions of closure for your university email. At Nottingham, the process of suspension and closure was scheduled over a period of three-six months from my final submission date. My account was due to be suspended three months after submission (ceasing to function) and then deleted three months after that. Note: If you are at Nottingham, you still need to check this. Don\u2019t blame me if conditions have changed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 2:<\/strong> If you haven\u2019t already got an alternative email account, you need to set one up. If you are considering changing your personal email, now is a good time. \u00a0In addition, you need to update any mailing lists, social networks, webpages and blogs so they point to your new address.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3:<\/strong> Next set up a notice on your email account (using the Out of Office function) as soon as possible, to let everyone who emails you know, automatically, that your email address will be closing on a given date. This message should include a new email address where you can be reached, along with any other contact details as you see fit. Encourage people to update their address books and start using your new email to instigate communications and respond to messages.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tip:<\/strong> If your University uses Outlook, you can set your Out of Office function up so anyone emailing you will only receive your closure notice once. If you are giving three months\u2019 notice, you might like to reset this message each month to ensure no one slips through the net. \u00a0Adapt this rule as necessary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3: <\/strong>To reiterate: Your email is not yours. It belongs to your university. If you want to export your email, you have to take action. I was anxious to export my mailbox, so I contacted my institution\u2019s IT Support Team. They indicated that I could export my email as an Outlook Data File (ODF). However, this would require their intervention, and advance permission from the University Registrar. I then contacted the postgraduate administrators in my Department to establish what was required for making this request formally. There were forms to complete, permissions to be gathered, and an appointment to be made with IT Support whilst I still had access to my PhD office desktop. The final steps at my institution were fairly smooth, and I received my email (all 200MBs of it) directly to my portable harddrive, in person. As soon as the file was made, however, my email stopped, so be aware that you need to schedule your email export carefully.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Warning:<\/strong>\u00a0To access the emails and files contained in my ODF file, I required a new version of Outlook Express, at some expense.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 4:<\/strong> Alongside action to export your email, make sure you <em>also<\/em> forward your most important emails, contacts and documents from your university inbox to your external address. \u00a0This is essential, as there is no guarantee that your university will release your email to you, in a format that you can access, at a time that suits you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 5: <\/strong>People will continue to try your old email address after it expires. So at this point, you should consider your online profile. If someone receives a \u2018message undelivered\u2019 notice and subsequently types your name into a search engine looking for a point of contact, can they find you easily? You need to make sure that your academic identity remains publically intact as you move on (either within, or without) your Alma Mata. LinkedIn is perhaps the least social of the social networks, but I have found it functions well as an address book for academics on the move. Academia.Edu will also allow you to present yourself, your work and connections. These are two amongst a plethora of options.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 5:<\/strong> Recognise that many of your colleagues will not be taking the steps outlined above. Staying in touch with other students (now distinguished PhDs) from your class is important, but not always easy. Again, in my experience, unless your department routinely gives notice of who has completed their viva, corrections and submitted, colleagues can disappear from your wider peer group without a trace. \u00a0Facebook has proven to be where I have kept up with the majority of my class, particularly international PhDs, who graduated before and after me, and who are now spread all over the world. However, it\u2019s important not to assume that everyone will be on Facebook, or want to be on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>So these are my 5 steps to email freedom.\u00a0Any comments are welcome.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\r\n\t\t<!-- BEGIN ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->\r\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" language=\"javascript\">\r\n\t\t<!--\r\n\t\t\/\/ ODIOGO_START:do_NOT_remove_this_comment\r\n\t\tshowOdiogoReadNowButton (\"687068\", \"University Email: A PhD Exit Strategy\", \"1504\", 290, 55);\r\n\t\t\/\/ -->\r\n\t\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t<br\/>\r\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" language=\"javascript\">\r\n\t\t<!--\r\n\t\tshowInitialOdiogoReadNowFrame (\"687068\", \"1504\", 290, 0);\r\n\t\t\/\/ ODIOGO_END:do_NOT_remove_this_comment\r\n\t\t\/\/ -->\r\n\t\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t<!-- END ODIOGO LISTEN BUTTON v2.5.7 (WP) -->\r\n\t\t\n<p>This post marks the third\u00a0instalment\u00a0in an occasional series on the underbelly of the PhD. \u00a0This week: Developing your exit strategy. So you\u2019ve submitted your PhD. Congratulations. OMG, you did it. Two gold-embossed hardbound copies handed over. \u00a0Maybe some tears. \u00a0Now you simply have to extricate yourself from postgraduate life and reconnect with the real world, [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[217,216,88,130,198,218,215],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-admin","tag-email","tag-hack","tag-phd","tag-postgraduate","tag-productivity","tag-university-email"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1504"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1545,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions\/1545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slewth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}