Healthy Life Updates

New wellness coordinator, Lauren Smee, is busy getting things ready for the annual spring Employee Health Fair.  This year's fair will be on March 15th in the Curris Center.  Please note the new location.  There is also a new registration process for pre-fair blood draws and blood draws on that day.  Please make sure you register for this event online at http://murraystate.edu/healthylife.

There is also a new email list you may sign-up for to receive the latest information about wellness events, incentive plan activities and more.  Sign-up here.

Lovely Reminders This Week

Email Username Changes - Users who still have the legacy firstname.lastname email addresses will have their accounts renamed on Monday, February 13th to match their myGate usernames.  You will still receive email sent to your old address.  If your address is being changed you will receive an email with more details.  Check out our previous blog post for more info.  http://ctltmsu.blogspot.com/2012/01/email-account-rename.html

I HEART Teaching & Learning -  Instructors, don't miss out on an opportunity to hear from your colleagues across campus and listen in on some great panel discussions about teaching and learning.   This event will take place on Friday, February 17th from 8:30am - 3:30pm.  A full schedule of sessions is available online at http://www.wix.com/lmurr74/iheart#!schedule

myGate Unavailable for Maintenance - At 5pm on Friday, February 17th, the myGate system will go down for maintenance. The system will not be available until sometime on Sunday, February, 19th. Any payments made during this time-frame will not post to the student account.  Blackboard and RacerMail will still be available to all users from their direct links.

http://blackboard.murraystate.edu
http://racermail.murraystate.edu

Staying Safe on the Web

In light of recent phishing scams that have been circulating by email, we thought it might be good to share some web safety tips from Google.  Remember, we will never ask for your email password or other sensitive account information via email.  If you receive a request for information and want to verify its validity, please feel free to call the Helpdesk at (270) 809-2346.


 

Email Account Rename

Most users have probably noticed by now that we have two email address formats on campus.  Some users have an address that matches their myGate username - like jdoe - and some have a firstname.lastname format - like john.doe.  This is the result of changes made over several years now to implement some of our enterprise systems for information.  Over the past year, a huge effort has been made to consolidate usernames into one format...this effort continues in 2012.

On Monday, February 13th, Information Systems will update all remaining email addresses in the legacy firstname.lastname format to match the current myGate username structure.  If your email address is currently in a firstname.lastname format it will change.  Users affected by this transition will receive an email with additional instructions.  If you already have an email address that matches your myGate username, you will not be affected by this process. 

Here are some important things to remember:

·  You will still receive email that is sent to your old email address.

·  Your email password will not change.

For further information regarding these changes, please see the support documentation below.

For an FAQ on the transition, see this article..

For information on what changes will be necessary for your email client, including Outlook, smartphones, and RacerMail, click here..  You will need to make the appropriate changes to your clients following the transition.

In the event that you have problems with your email account, contact the Helpdesk at 809-2346 for additional assistance.  


**Note:  We will never ask for your email username or password in an email message.  Please DO NOT respond to email messages asking for your account information.

New 2012 Wellness Incentive Packets Delivered

Did you notice the blue folder in your mailbox last week?  Healthy Life incentive plan info has been delivered to full-time faculty and staff across campus.  Employees are eligible for incentive dollars when they complete some or all of the plan requirements.

Step 1:  Complete a Health Assessment at Anthem.com and receive $50 in a future paycheck.  This part of the plan is only for self-assessment purposes and it totally confidential.  You don't have to be participating in any kind of health plan to complete step 1.  For instructions on how to register at Anthem.com or how to fill-out your health assessment, see this support article:  http://support.murraystate.edu/knowledgemanager/questions.php?questionid=118

Step  2:  Additional monetary rewards are available for those who complete goal-specific criteria.  Navy, Silver and Gold plan criteria is included in your packet.  Participants can qualify for $50, $100 or $150 rewards to be added to their paychecks.

For more information about the Healthy Life plan at Murray State, contact Human Resources at 809-4672.

Getting Started in Spring 2012

We want to welcome the students back on this first day of classes.  We've been getting a lot of calls at the Helpdesk and we want to pass on a few of them and offer some possible solutions.

I can't log in to myGate.   Be sure you've clicked on the Forgot Password link and tried to answer your secret questions.  If your account is locked out or you can't remember the answers to your questions, then you will need to call the Helpdesk at (270) 809-2346 and choose option #1.

I'm in the dorm and I can't get connected to the internet.   To access the Resnet network you will need to register through the Bradford system.  Before you begin, make sure your anti-virus and anti-spyware software is up-to-date.  You will also need to activate your MSUNET2K password in myGate by logging in on a campus computer using the username/password:  murray/racers.  Or if you connect using campus wireless, there is a link to myGate on the Bluesocket page.  Find instructions here.

I changed my Blackboard password but I still can't log in.   Make sure that your browser is using this url for the log-in page.  http://blackboard.murraystate.edu  Some users are getting a log-in page with a really long url and it isn't working.  Blackboard support is working on this problem.

If you have any questions that aren't addressed here, please visit the Support site at http://support.murraystate.edu or call the Helpdesk at (270) 809-2346 from 8-4:30 M-F.

What's New in 2012

We have several things we'd like to highlight that are new this semester or that will be changing in the coming weeks.

Blackboard Outage/Upgrade:  The Blackboard system will be down for a maintenance upgrade beginning Thursday, January 12th at noon. The system will be unavailable for up to 36 hours. A notice will be sent to faculty prior to the start of the upgrade and a second email sent to faculty when the system is back online. The upgrade will provide a few new features but is primarily to correct course copy issues and browser compatibility.  We hope to highlight some of the new features in a future post.

Guest Wireless Changes:  Campus wireless users who already have MSUNET2K accounts are strongly encouraged to use MSUSECURE or MSUWIRELESS for wireless access.  Guest wireless is only to be used for visitors who do not already have credentials on our campus.  Use of our guest wireless system by campus employees and current students creates some security and support issues.  Guest wireless has a limited scope and may not allow campus users access to all of the services they may need.

New Computer Lock Policy:  By default, all campus computers will now "lock" after 30 minutes of inactivity.  This security measure is intended to protect against malicious users who might use a computer that has been left unattended to access information on our network.  Computers that are running calculations or processing data should not be negatively affected by this policy and users can easily unlock their machine by pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE and entering their password.  We recommend all users lock their machines when stepping away or leaving for lunch.  To lock your computer, press CTRL+ALT+DEL and choose "lock this computer" or use the shortcut by pressing the Windows key + L.  If you experience problems with the new lock policy, please contact the Helpdesk at (270) 809-2346.

Electronic W-2 Forms:  If you have not signed up to receive your W-2 electronically, please log in to myGate and follow instructions on the home tab.  Do you want a printed W-2? If you do not consent to receiving your W-2 electronically, your printed W-2 will be delivered to the post office by January 31st.