We are excited to announce that beginning August 30th, faculty, staff and students can opt-in to the new Google@UMBC environment.
Google Apps is a package of online applications that makes communicating and collaborating at UMBC easier and more efficient. The cornerstone of Google Apps is Gmail, Google’s web-based email program, which integrates with Google Docs, for creating and sharing documents, and Google Calendar, for coordinating schedules. All of these services are hosted online, so email, documents, and calendars are always accessible from any computer, anywhere.
The Google contract was signed by the attorney general’s office in July 2010 under the Maryland Education Enterprise Consortium (MEEC) umbrella. UMBC was the first USM school to sign the new contract thus allowing UMBC to offer the Google collaborative tools to the UMBC community.
A Google@UMBC Web Site has been setup to answer many of your questions.
Timeline
August 6th All new student accounts will automatically be created on Google@UMBC. This includes incoming Fall 2010 Freshmen.
August 30th Faculty, Staff and Students can opt-in, via NEW Web Interface, to migrate their mail to Google
January 2011 Migrate remaining student accounts to Google