Sunsetting Lifetime Alumni Accounts
To mitigate cybersecurity and data privacy risks and to comply with new Microsoft licensing agreements, UW-Stout has made the difficult decision to no longer provide lifetime email accounts to our graduates as of December 2023.
While this change is needed, we acknowledge that our alumni and previous students are important members of the University community and we recognize that this change may cause disruption.
The university is working to sunset the alumni accounts in a phased approach and you can find more details below.
Graduates who graduated in December 2023 and after
After your graduation, you will have continued access to your UW-Stout email address for 12 months. After 12 months, your Stout email address will be disabled and access to all Stout-licensed Microsoft 365 applications will expire. In additional your eStout HP Laptop will need to be reset with a personal email account. Please see the following articles to assist with this.
Email and Data Migration Guide
Alumni: Resetting your eStout Laptop and Personal Devices with a Personal Account
Graduates who graduated prior to 2017
Phase 1: February 2024 - October 2024
Alumni who were actively using their UW-Stout email account, are allowed to keep their email account at this time if they complete the following security requirements. This does not include any other Microsoft 365 resources such as OneDrive, Word, Excel, Etc.
Multi-Factor Authentication
To enhance the security of your email account, you will be required to enroll in Multi-Factor Authentication. The University uses Microsoft Authenticator and you will need to download the Microsoft Authenticator app on your phone and enroll.
See: Microsoft Authenticator: Enrollment Using a Mobile Device
UW-Stout IT Security Training
All users will need to complete an annual IT Security training in June. Notifications will be sent to your Stout account and you will be given a month to complete the training.
If these security requirements are not met, the account will be deleted. In addition, any account that is not actively used in 12 months will be deleted.
All users who are actively using a UW-Stout email account must also follow the Universities of Wisconsin Acceptable Use Policy.
- Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources (Regent Policy Document 25-3)
Graduates who graduated after 2017 through Summer of 2023
Phase 2: November 2024 - April 2025
Alumni who are actively using their UW-Stout email account, will be given the opportunity to keep their email account at this time if they complete the following two security requirements.
Security Requirements
Multi-Factor Authentication
To enhance the security of your email account, you will be required to enroll in Multi-Factor Authentication. The University uses Microsoft Authenticator and you will need to download the Microsoft Authenticator app on your phone and enroll.
KnowledgeBase: Microsoft Authenticator: Enrollment Using a Mobile Device
UW-Stout IT Security Training
All users will need to complete an annual IT Security training in June. Notifications will be sent to your Stout account and you will be given a month to complete the training.
If these security requirements are not met, the account will be deleted. In addition, any account that is not actively used in 12 months will be deleted.
All users who are actively using a UW-Stout email account must also follow the Universities of Wisconsin Acceptable Use Policy.
-
- Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources (Regent Policy Document 25-3)
Microsoft 365 Licensing
Microsoft's licensing only allows the university to provide email accounts to Alumni. This does not include licensing for any other Microsoft 365 (M365) licenses, including OneDrive, Word, Teams, Etc.
If you choose to keep your UW-Stout email and enroll in Microsoft Authenticator, your account will be transitioned to an "Exchange Online for Alumni" license and you will lose access to your files and M365 applications. You will need to move any documents you need to retain to a local drive, a USB drive, another cloud storage solution. Please review the below KnowledgeBase for steps you can take to back up your files.
Knowledge Base: https://kb.uwstout.edu/m365migrationguide
Other Personal Devices (Phones, Tablets, Etc.)
If you used your UW-Stout email address to set up any other personal devices (Computer, phone, tablet, etc.) you will need to reset it with a personal email address and remove the device from Microsoft Intune. IMPORTANT: If you do not follow these steps, you will lose access to your device when your Microsoft account is disabled.
HP Laptop –Graduates with an eStout HP Laptop
These changes will also impact the eStout HP laptop that you graduated with. Your laptop was originally set up using your Stout email account. You will need to follow the instructions in the Knowledge Base article linked below to set up your laptop with a personal account.
KnowledgeBase: https://kb.uwstout.edu/resetdevices
Non Graduates
Due to changes in Microsoft storage policies and licensing, we are required to deactivate email accounts for individuals who have not graduated from UW-Stout. Microsoft's licensing only allows the university to provide email accounts to people who are enrolled, employed or a graduate of the university.
Knowledge Base: https://kb.uwstout.edu/m365migrationguide