University Communications strives to use campus communications resources effectively and efficiently. Email is an efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly way to communicate with large groups of people. However, non-strategic use of mass email can reduce employee productivity and hinder the university’s ability to deliver critical messages.

Recognizing these expectations and concerns, the university has created these requirements, guidelines, and best practices to ensure email remains an effective form of communication. This page includes the following information:

Definition

Email is the University of Oregon’s official means of communicating information to faculty, staff, and students as stated in UO email policy. Mass email is any email message sent to the entire campus or large subset (e.g., all students, all undergraduates, all graduate students, all tenure-track faculty, all career and research faculty, classified employees, officers of administration). All mass emails must follow the UO mass email guidelines and procedures and be consistent with any applicable state and federal laws. These requirements do not apply to units when sending messages within their own unit, school, or college or to emails in which all subscribers signed up voluntarily to receive information.

Appropriate Use of Internal Mass Email

Mass email is appropriate for information that pertains to the majority of the recipients, is critical and/or time-sensitive, and meets one or more of the following standards:

• Alerts the campus community to situations about health and safety risks, as defined in the UO Crisis and Emergency Notification procedures;
• Provides information essential to the operation or execution of business;
• Notifies the campus community about changes in governance, policy, and practice;
• Communicates important information from the president, provost, or other university senior leadership as described in the authorization and approvals section below.

Inappropriate use of internal mass email includes, but is not limited to:

• Messages that are not in line with the university’s mission of teaching, research, and service;
• Messages that are commercial in nature with the exception of those messages that are in support of university business;
• Political activities that advocate for or against a ballot measure or candidate (learn more about political activities prohibited by Oregon law);
• Messages for job postings or research recruitment;
• Marketing or advertising of programs, majors, classes, products, or events offered or sponsored by the university;
• Solicitations for contributions, charities, or participation in personal activities not related to university purposes or not sponsored by the university;
• Solicitations for non-university businesses operated by university faculty or staff;
• Messages that are discriminatory or infringe on privacy;

Announcements that do not meet the outlined standards, or are inappropriate for mass email should use other communication channels as listed below.

Required Approval and Authorization

Authorization to send mass email is automatically granted in the following three cases:

1. Official University Announcements
   
   Requests to send out mass email to the following university populations must be approved by the appropriate owning office, when not otherwise authorized.

2. Emergency
   
   In an emergency, approval may be bypassed, as is detailed in the University of Oregon’s Emergency Operations Plan.
    
3. Local Authority
   
   Schools, colleges, departments, units, and administrative offices are authorized to send messages to their students, faculty, or staff, in accordance with department or school guidelines and procedures. Units are encouraged to use best practices detailed below. Contact your supervisor or communication staff member for direction and/or approval.

Required Content

Messages sent to internal (i.e. @uoregon.edu) email addresses must include all of the following:

• Approved UO logo at the top or prominently placed within an HTML message.
• “University of Oregon” clearly identified in plain text messages and in the text-only portion that accompanies an HTML message.
• Name of the sending unit (preferred) or the sending individual in the "from" field.
• The intended audience for the message clearly addressed toward the beginning of the email (e.g., "Dear faculty and staff,", "Dear Honors College students,", "I am writing to you today in your capacity as required reporters...").
  • If this is not possible, please clearly identify the intended audience for the message in a note in the footer of the email (e.g., "This message was sent to all faculty, staff, and GEs")
• Name of the sending unit and signatory or signatories of the message

Best Practices and Guidelines

To promote operational efficiency and network security, the following guidelines govern internal mass email:

• A mass email message should be brief, self-explanatory, clear, and concise. If there is a need to convey more information, the sender should link to a webpage or seek other communication channels such as Workplace News.
• Include a succinct subject line that conveys the email’s purpose.
• Provide a link or contact information about where people may ask questions or get more information.
• Avoid sending frequent or repeated messages. Follow-up messages or reminders should seek other communication channels, with the exception of emergency communications.
• Collaborate with others at the university to avoid redundancy and reduce the number of messages sent.
• Attachments are not allowed in mass email. A link to a webpage is recommended.
• Avoid acronyms and jargon. Do not use acronyms on first reference in the body of a message. For example, write out “Officers of Administration (OA)” on first reference, then use OA on future references.
• Check spelling and grammar, and copy edit message to align with the UO editorial style guide.
• Senders should avoid sending emails at the end of the day or on Friday afternoons to prevent their message from getting “lost” during non-work hours.

Additional Internal Communication Channels

Before deciding on mass email as the choice for any communication, units are strongly encouraged to use:

• Oregon News website. Faculty and staff can also submit a story idea for Workplace.
• Quick Quack weekly student news
• Academic, Administrative, HR partners email lists
• Events Calendar
• Mailman list serves
• Printed and digital signage
• Direct mail
• College, campus, and departmental communications channels such as websites, list-serves, social media, or group or interpersonal communications. Contact your unit, school or college's communications professional for additional options.