Colgate students, faculty, and staff receive a network account granting access to resources like e-mail, Moodle, the portal, an enhanced directory and more.
When to Use Your Network Account
Users' Colgate network accounts serve as their primary means of authenticating for Colgate's digital resources. Network accounts serve to grant Colgate users access to such key resources as:
The Colgate portal provides access to important campus life, academic, and financial services such as the course registration system, reports of grades and unofficial transcripts, access to InfoShare for sharing grades with parents and family, views of one's class schedule, and more.
The Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) is Colgate's virtual learning space for academic courses. Professors and students may utilize Moodle to collaborate on projects, report unofficial grades during the semester, collect assignments, and more.
Colgate's email accounts are powered by the G Suite for Education, from Google. As such, Gmail serves as the default webmail view for Colgate email accounts.
Most Colgate users utilize Colgate's Password Reset Utility to synchronize their Google password with their Colgate network credentials.
Many campus resources, including access to digital journals, fileshares, and more, are only accessible when connected to the Colgate network. When not on campus, members of the Colgate community can still access these resources by creating a VPN connection to the Colgate network, logging in with their Colgate network account.
Colgate students, faculty, and staff may receive designated storage on Colgate servers — a secure and convenient means of backing up files.
Users may log into computers in campus computer labs using their network credentials.
Setting Up an Account
New Students
Accounts are created for students when they enroll with the university, prior to arriving on campus. These students will receive a notification when their accounts have been created with instructions for setting up their password.
New Staff and Faculty Members
Accounts are created for new staff and faculty when the hiring process is complete. To receive access to the account and establish their password, new staff and faculty should contact the ITS Service Desk on their first day of employment.
Password Management
The the Colgate Password Reset Utility is allows users to update/change passwords for their network account and Colgate Google account. It can also be used to reset these passwords in the case they are forgotten.
Launch Colgate Password Reset Utility
Strong Password Policy
The following are required for all Colgate network account passwords:
- Contain both upper and lowercase characters (i.e., A-Z, a-z)
- Have at least one digit (i.e., 0-9)
- Have at least one punctuation character (e.g., ^*_+~={}[]<>?)
- Be at least eight alphanumeric characters long
- Not be a word in any language, slang, dialect, jargon, etc.
Expired Passwords
For security purposes, network account passwords are valid for one year before they expire and force users to provide a new password. Google passwords do not expire, but should be changed regularly as well.
By utilizing the Colgate Password Reset Utility, users can simultaneously update their network account password and Google password, an option exercised by most Colgate users.
Leaving the University
Click a user type to learn more about what happens to network accounts when leaving the university:
Graduating
Students who graduate will have access to their Colgate network account for approximately 13 months following commencement. Access to the account, including access to such resources as Netstore, the Portal, and more will close on June 15 of the year following one's graduation year. Note about the Portal: Note that although access to the Portal will continue for 13 months, access to many individual apps within the Portal will close during the first week of June of the same year as one graduates. Contact the Office of the Registrar for transcripts.
Email for Life
Colgate graduates may request the continuation of a Colgate email address for their lifetime via the alumni relations office.
Transferring
Students leaving the university to transfer to other colleges keep their Colgate network account for 60 days following the drop/add period of the first semester that they is not enrolled in any classes.
Faculty and staff whose employment at Colgate University is terminated will lose access to their Colgate network account immediately upon termination of employment.
Ask for Help
If you are unable to find the information you need in the documentation available online, the ITS Service Desk is available to assist.