Internal E-communications PolicyProcedures for Sending E-mail to Students, Faculty and Staff

To ensure that e-mail remains an effective means of communication, the university must be strategic in its use of broadcast e-mail messages. Using e-mail impersonally and indiscriminately will harm the credibility of the entire university and make audiences less likely to welcome university e-mails that could be of interest to them. This page is meant to inform you of policies regarding the use of Right Now, the university's official tool for sending e-mails to students, faculty and staff.
 

E-mail Request Process

To request that an e-mail be sent to a group or subgroup of students, faculty and staff, send the following information to ecomm@uh.edu:

  1. The e-mail text and any images you'd like to include (HTML and text-only versions should be provided whenever possible).
  2. The name of the person, department, or group to be listed as the e-mail's sender
  3. The e-mail address to be used as the reply-to address  (If you do not want replies to the e-mail be sure to indicate "No Replies.")
  4. The e-mail address to receive the replies (This can be different from the reply-to address).
  5. The subject line
  6. A list of preferred recipients (Note: If the audience for a message is a custom group (ex. Fall 2010 graduate students), please allow 48 to 72 hours to generate the contact list).
  7. The date of distribution
  8. The names of persons who should receive the message proof (Please specify if all proofers must approve the message).
  9. The e-mail signature of the contact person should include: name, title, department, e-mail address and office phone number.

 

Once the information is received, the E-comm team will send the message to the three authorized approvers - Richard Bonnin for staff, Stephen Soutullo for faculty and Dr. Richard Walker for students - if the message follows the general guidelines listed below.

General Guidelines

The following guidelines are intended to ensure that messages are consistent, and serve a university appropriate purpose.

  1. With the exception of communications authorized by the Office of the President, no attachments are allowed.
  2. No communications or solicitations from outside vendors will be permitted.
  3. E-Comm will not approve requests for survey research or research subjects, etc.
  4. Surveys of students, faculty and staff will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

 

Additional Notes

  • Keep in mind the difference between local and global information. An event of interest to NSM may not be of similar interest to CLASS or the College of Architecture, while a presentation by a Nobel Prize winner will have much more widespread interest. When selecting your preferred audience, think carefully about who would truly benefit from receiving the notice. Be prepared to make a case if there is some question about appropriateness.
  • If something is not approved for e-mail distribution, Diane Murphy in the Office of Student Affairs has offered to post a flyer created by the department/college/etc. in high traffic areas and on the Student Affairs webpage.
  • Keep The Daily Cougar and UH Today in mind as possible alternative communication vehicles.