San Diego Mesa College is transitioning from the use of personal email addresses to student email addresses. All communication from the San Diego Community College District, including communication with professors, will be sent directly to those email addresses only, starting the week of Mar. 27.
At the start of the 2023 Spring semester, student services informed Mesa students of the transition through their personal email and gave them their very own student emails to communicate in a more efficient manner with their professors. Students are able to find the email, titled “Starting March 27th – New Way to Communicate with Students,” containing their student emails in their personal email inboxes. Within the email, students will find information and links that allow them to access, activate, and set up their student email addresses. Students will use the same password for their email addresses as they do for their mySDCCD student portal.
Since the opening of Mesa, in 1963, student emails have not been introduced to the students of its campus until this year, so this news has come as a shock to both the students and faculty. Though the use of student email addresses is common within community college school districts, the students of Mesa College have diverse opinions. Some are rather pessimistic about the transformation in their near future.
Tanner Medina, a student at Mesa said, “I really like how it is right now, and I feel like having to change is going to be a little tough.” Agreeing with Medina, Thaddeus Limosnero, another student at Mesa College, said “I like it when it’s in my personal because it’s my personal, and I check my personal.”
However, some students feel differently about the new use of student emails and have a more optimistic outlook on the conversion. “I think using school emails will make communication easier for professors and faculty,” said Anessa Shimp. When asked if she finds our current use of personal emails difficult, she said “I would say it’s okay I just think sometimes it’s hard to respond accordingly to them.”
Gloria Kim, a professor at Mesa, is an advocate for the change: “I think there are a lot of advantages to students having an email through our district. Students will be given access to the Microsoft Office Suits for free which is really cool. When I was a student I wish I had that.” She continued by expressing the abnormality of not having student email addresses on campus and stated that systematizing the emails will be good, despite the mid-semester rollout.
The timing of Mesa’s student email initiation might leave students questioning the benefits of having them compared to the cost of the transition. Jack Beresford, the San Diego Community College district’s public information officer, said “The bottom line is that this is expected to improve communication between students and the district, and it’s something many people have been asking about for years.
If students are having trouble accessing their accounts, or need further assistance with technology support, they are encouraged to reach out to the IT Help Desk via email: at support@student.sdccd.edu, or via phone: 619-388-1140.
