A screenshot of the login screen for Duquesne student email, which close 12 months after graduation. Upperclassmen should use a different email for resumes.
A screenshot of the login screen for Duquesne student email, which close 12 months after graduation. Upperclassmen should use a different email for resumes.
Liza Zulick | Staff Writer
Have you been using your Duquesne email address on resumes? Students who use it for professional reasons outside of the university might find themselves without an email address after they graduate.
Many students do not realize that they lose access to their emails after graduation. According to interviews conducted by The Duke, some students had misconceptions regarding how long they would be able to view their “duq.edu” email after graduating.
Olivia Kappler, a junior multiplatform journalism and public relations major, thought she would be able to still view her email account after graduating if she wanted to. Another student, Jared Bonawitz, said he thought he would only have six months before his university email was closed.
Freshman Merissa Chonko predicted she would only have one month after graduation.
However, according to Don Maue, director of Computing Support Service for Duquesne’s Computing and Technology Services, Duquesne students’ emails are stored temporarily on cloud servers during their time at the university — eventually a student will lose access to the account when it is deleted approximately 12 months after graduation.
This could be a concern for students who use it for important contacts or on resumes.
“I used my [Duquesne] email to apply for a job at CONSOL Energy [Center] right after I got it,” freshman Jeremiah Lyons said. If Lyons planned on maintaining contact with CONSOL, now PPG Paints Arena, it would have been wise to use a personal account instead.
If a student plans to keep any of their Duquesne email files, it is important to move them to a different account, Maue said. Otherwise, the files will no longer be accessible.
For students who have ever used their Duquesne emails on important documents, such as a resume or cover letter, replies to emails might fall on deaf ears. As soon as your email is deactivated or deleted, there will be no way to access the emails from that account.
“Since the DU Email system is designed for communication during the time in which students are active, it would not make sense to use that address for any communication that would take place after a student leaves the university,” Maue said.
Chonko said she has never used her Duquesne email for “anything very important” for that very reason.
Students are responsible for using another account once they are no longer a student, according to Maue.
Junior international relations major Gabriel Drexler has gotten ahead of the curve.
“I have never used it for professional reasons, but only because I already have a job using a different email,” Drexler said.
However, according to Maue, students will receive at least two emails to notify the user before the deactivation of the account. Once these emails have been sent, it is not long before the entire account is deactivated.
