Purdue University uses several formats to communicate information to students. Each of these formats has a specific criteria for use. You may use the following table to determine which of the email formats best meets your needs. If you need more information about any of the individual formats, use the links in the menu to the right.

• Pre-Populated Course Email Lists
• Gammadyne
• Mailman
• PurduE-Board

If you are not sure which of the above to choose, a table summary is available for the different message types.

Pre-Populated Course Email Lists
As an instructor on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, you have access to emails for the students in your section.  You can view this information through Self Service Banner via the myPurdue portal.  Course email lists are automatically populated with course data from the Registrar and changes will be reflected within 24-48 hours when students drop or add your course.  Requests are processed on Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.  All course email lists are automatically deleted at the end of each semester.

Gammadyne
This format is now used by areas across campus that have a need to send out bulk messages to students. As with Direct student email, messages sent using this format can be used to contact a targeted population of students, but can also be used to contact untargeted populations.

Since messages can be sent out via Gammadyne with no prior approval, the use of this format requires that the message have then same relevance to a student that the Direct Student Email does. Therefore, use of Gammadyne mirrors the requirements set forth in using DSE and must have relevance to: a) academic performance; b) finances; c) enrollment or registration; d) student health; or e) emergency notification. Additionally, restricted data cannot be associated with the communication.

Exceptions to the above requirements are granted in the following cases:

• Requests made by the President or on behalf of the Presiden’ts Office.
• Approved IRB research surveys

Requests for student emails must be made using the WebServ request system, which will be found at www.purdue.edu\webserv.  After logging in with an approved account, open “Requests” in the menu bar, then select “Student Email.”

In the first box, labeled Describe the student population, enter the population that you want your message sent to.  Be as specific as possible to avoid spamming students who have no need for the message.  Some of the limits can be classification, gender, or college/school. 

Specify the date needed using the drop down box.  Generally, messages that are not an emergency will not be accepted for immediate sending.  The Office of the Registrar reserves the right to reject messages with insufficient notice and while every attempt will be made to get your message out in a timely fashion, there may be a delay in the sending of messages when requested, depending on staff availability and volume of work.

In the Sent By: boxes, enter the sender’s e-mail address and sender’s name.  These do not have to be the same as the person making the request.

Reply to: is the address to which a person responding to this e-mail can send a response.

Header is the message header that tells the viewer the purpose or content of the message.

Enter the message content in Provide the message content below. This may be either plain text or HTML code.  The Office of the Registrar may not send graphics or attachments per our agreement with the Mail Hub, but HTML-linked graphics may be embedded in the body of the message, if you so desire.

ALL boxes MUST be filled to completed for the request to be processed.  When done, click the Submit Request box.  You will get a message confirming that your request has been made and you will get a confirmation copy in your email shortly.  If you do not get a confirmation copy in your email within an hour please contact reginfoservices@purdue.edu.
To configure Gammadyne to work from any host, the instructions below should be followed.

• The new authorization method relies on the use of encrypted SMTP
  authentication.  (Provide your career account login and password).
  The latest version of Gammadyne v29.0 released on 1/29/07 supports
  this, so make sure you upgrade to the latest version.
• Configuration of encrypted SMTP authentication in Gammadyne (v29.0)
  can be found under:
• Servers
• SMTP
• SMTP server name: pbm.purdue.edu
• SMTP server port: 587
• Login with user name & password
  CHECKED
  (use your personal career account login & password)
• SMTP encryption
  Required

Mailman
Mailman is a list serve that can be used in place of Outlook to distribute email to a population of people that are too large for Outlook to handle as a distribution list. Mailman will allow you to customize a list and allow people to unsubscribe from the group. In Mailman, instead of the entire list being moderated, individual subscribers are moderated.  By moderating subscribers instead of lists, there is more control over who can post to your list without needing approval.  Refer to the mailing list service Terms of Use for the acceptable use policy.

PurduE-Board
Developed by a campus-wide group and administered by Information Technology at Purdue, PurduEBoard is a Web-based RSS, or Really Simple Syndicate, system that allows information to be posted online in a single location for subscription by students, faculty, and staff.  Users do not have to subscribe to RSS in order to review current postings.  Visiting the home page will provide a list of all available folders and their current postings.