The Domain Merge refers to the merging of the two Google Workspace domains, mymail.vcu.edu and vcu.edu, into one domain where both Students and Faculty/Staff Google Workspace accounts will be managed.
All students, faculty, and staff will be under the same @vcu.edu domain.
Direct notifications will occur to individuals who will experience account changes.
Alumni accounts will be created for all VCU graduates with @mymail.vcu.edu accounts who are no longer active students. The addresses for these accounts will be (eID)@alumni.vcu.edu. Data migration tools will be provided to migrate email and drive data from the @mymail.vcu.edu account to the @alumni.vcu.edu account for these individuals except accounts with clinical restrictions.
Visit https://collaborate.vcu.edu/how-to/use-an-alumni-account/ for more information.
The following is the proposed timeline for the merge of the VCU faculty/staff (vcu.edu) and VCU student (mymail.vcu.edu) domains. Graduated students will move from the mymail.vcu.edu domain to the alumni.vcu.edu domain. Upon completion of this migration, the mymail.vcu.edu will be retired. This timeline is subject to change.
March 10, 2021 - All accounts for newly accepted students will be created in the vcu.edu domain and newly accepted students will then be created daily in vcu.edu domain.
March 15, 2021 - Graduates with accounts in mymail domain will be notified and provided a password to log into their alumni account.
April 1 - May 17, 2021 - Accounts will be created for current students in the vcu.edu domain. Data migration will be running in the background from active student accounts to new accounts in vcu.edu. Students continue to use existing accounts.
Week of May 17, 2021 - All current students will begin to use the new account created in the vcu.edu domain. Graduates will get new accounts in alumni.vcu.edu domain and be provided the Google Takeout tool for data migration. All new email will arrive to the new accounts for all students in the vcu.edu domain, alumni email goes to alumni.vcu.edu.
May 17 until complete - Data migration will sweep accounts and catch deltas.
July 31 - Following communication with students and alumni and time for them to alert us of any migration issues, accounts for current students who were migrated will be deleted from the mymail domain.
August 23, 2021 - Summer graduates and all future graduates get accounts created in alumni.vcu.edu domain. Upon creation, email redirection occurs. No migration occurs. Once the active student record becomes inactive, the student account suspends. This is in accordance with the Alumni Email Standard.
When VCU became a Google school, hosting students in a domain separate from faculty and staff was the recommended configuration. As Google has expanded and additional collaboration tools have been added, it is now best practice to host everyone together to allow for efficient collaboration. Also, our students often hold staff or faculty positions while enrolled in classes which until now has required two separate accounts. Some of key benefits our user community will enjoy with the merged domains:
- Dual role students/employees use one Google Workspace account
- Document sharing
- Share with @vcu.edu account
- Change ownership of documents between faculty/staff, and students
- Mail and Calendar delegation and calendar invitations
- Delegate access to departmental generic accounts to students
- Secondary calendar delegation and management allowed between faculty, staff and students.
- Easier integration of Google tools with third party applications such as Canvas
- Google Chat and Chat rooms
- Search and find faculty, staff and student contacts to add to chat
- Add students to existing faculty/staff Chat rooms and vice versa
What are the benefits of the domain merge?
Please see the “Benefits of one domain” section on this page to see the benefits.
Do I need to do anything different in Canvas?
Please review this document for steps to log out and sign back into your Canvas account. Google Chrome is the recommended browser.
Can I just stay where I am?
No, the mymail.vcu.edu Google domain will be retired. This change will be positive for overall collaboration between faculty and students.
I’ve discovered an account in the vcu.edu domain but no one has told me to use it, what do I do?
In order to prevent any disruption to our students, a migration will be running in the background during April. Please continue to use your student account in the mymail.vcu.edu domain until advised to switch. The planned switchover date is May 17.
Will email addressed to my @mymail.vcu.edu address be delivered to me?
Yes, email addressed to @mymail.vcu.edu will be forwarded to your active account.
I am graduating in May, what happens to my account?
May graduates will have a new account created in the alumni.vcu.edu domain and be provided with tools to migrate their data. Visit the Spring 2021 Graduates page for more information.
I am a current student. Which data will migrate?
Please visit our tab related to data migration at https://collaborate.vcu.edu/
Do I need to request data migration?
Students currently enrolled in classes will automatically have their data migrated. Students eligible to enroll but not currently taking classes may use Google Takeout to transfer their data.
What if I don’t wish for my data to be migrated, I’d like to start clean.
Complete this form by April 1 to opt out of data migration: https://forms.gle/F2GFum9eFzvT9YcJ8
Should I clean my account up?
If you are using Google Takeout to transfer your data and you'd like to clean up before issuing the transfer, this document outlines some quick cleanup tips.