All University of Guelph undergraduate students will receive a new email address Aug. 19 as part of the University’s move to Google Apps for Education accounts.

The move affects all undergraduate, certificate and diploma students from the Guelph, Kemptville, Ridgetown and Alfred campuses.

Google Apps for Education is a platform for mail, calendar and collaborative document editing offered by Google to educational institutions.

The new email accounts will be branded with “Gryph Mail powered by Google” logos and will be referred to as Gryph Gmail. Students’ new email addresses will take the form of username@mail.uoguelph.ca.

“The move to Google Apps will address undergraduate student needs including larger storage quotas, improved smartphone compatibility and more online productivity features,” said Hugh Smith, a senior analyst in Computing and Communications Services (CCS) who is heading the Google Apps for Education project.

He said switching to Google Apps will increase mail storage to 30 gigabytes and will provide students with a rich collaboration platform including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Drive and Google Mobile.

All student emails will be auto-forwarded from their old U of G accounts to their new Gryph Gmail account for one year.

CCS has created a web page with information about the transition and Google Apps for Education. Students who have questions may contact the CCS Help Centre, 58888help@uoguelph.ca or Ext. 58888.