Gmail and Google Apps for Education are now available for students at Simmons. Please note that the project to move faculty and staff to Google Apps for Education has begun and we will provide more information and instructions in November, 2012.
Looking for help setting up Gmail? Here are links to answers to the most common questions. There is also a full set of FAQs available here.
- Watch a brief video about getting started with Gmail
- Preparing for the switch to Gmail
- Personal address books and contacts
- Forwarding your email
- Mobile setup (iPhone/iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile)
- Using an email client (Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook)
Welcome to Google Apps for Education
After much consideration of student needs and the long-term goals of the College, we have decided to switch our student email and calendaring from Webmail (email.simmons.edu) to Gmail (gmail.simmons.edu) and Google Apps for Education (including Google Docs, Calendar, Sites, and more) as part of our Simmons Connection project, which aims to enhance and unify technology resources. This is an exciting change that will improve our technology and offer you more powerful tools for communication and collaboration.
This is a student-focused decision and we chose Gmail and Google Apps for several reasons:
- Many students already use Gmail for personal email and are familiar with it
- Integrated chat and conferencing
- Improved sharing and collaboration
- Improved mobile access to email
- Increased storage space
- Reduced support costs
We will be continuing to communicate over the next month about this change and how it will impact everyone. For now, we want to highlight a few things so you can be prepared. Check out this page of FAQs for answers to additional questions you might have about Gmail and Google Apps.
- The switch to Gmail will happen over Memorial Day weekend. We chose this date to minimize any disruption by completing the migration after the semester and graduation, and over a weekend.
- The new website for email will be gmail.simmons.edu.
- Student email addresses will not change. Simmons Gmail will simply be the way you access your Simmons email. It can exist alongside any personal Gmail accounts you may have.
- If you currently forward your email (to Gmail, Yahoo, etc.), you will need to reset your forwarding after May 25th. You can find instructions here.
- If you want to configure your desktop email client (Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, etc.), please see these instructions for setup provided by Google.
- If you want to access your email on your mobile devices, there are instructions for iPhone/iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile. Please be sure to follow the instructions at the top of these pages labeled “View instructions for Google Apps email addresses.”
- We will hold training sessions in May and in September for returning students. We’ll make an announcement with specific dates and times soon.
This is an exciting transition and we think you will be very happy with Gmail. Please stay tuned for more announcements. We appreciate your support and patience.