Starting this spring, students graduating from the University of Oregon will be able to continue receiving messages at their uoregon.edu email addresses for the rest of their lives.

Graduating students can set up forwards from their university account to outside email addresses, and it will continue to work after they graduate. A forward functions like a change-of-address form with the post office, accepting email sent to the UO email address and redirecting it to the email address specified by the student.

To enable post-graduation email forwarding, students must visit Duck ID self-service and follow the instructions. The process is the same as for setting up other email forwards.

"We're excited to be offering this new service to graduating students," said Jessie Minton, chief information officer and vice provost for information services. "It will help students stay connected to their classmates, professors and the university after they earn their degrees."

Although the post-graduation email forwarding is a lifetime service, the university will not save students' existing stored email messages forever. Most students' email messages will be scheduled for deletion within a year of their graduation date.

Information Services strongly encourages graduating students to export any stored email they want to keep before they graduate. Instructions for exporting mail are available in the UO Service Portal.

The lifetime email forwarding service is currently available to UO students graduating in June. Fall 2017 and winter 2018 graduates are also eligible.

The UO Service Portal contains answers to frequently asked questions about this new service.

Students and others with questions should contact the Technology Service Desk by phone at 541-346-4357 or through the UO Service Portal. Go to the basic email service page, click the green "Request Help" button, log in with a Duck ID and complete the form.

—By Nancy Novitski, University Communications