New Faculty and Staff | Ask IT

New Faculty & Staff

On behalf of the Information Technology (IT) department, welcome. Below you will find information to help you begin using IT resources and services at Amherst College.

For additional information please browse the IT website, search for IT information using the Amherst website Search above, or contact the IT Help Desk at 413-542-2526 or AskIT@amherst.edu.

IT Policies

As a member of the Amherst College community you must abide by the college's Electronic Resources Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). You also must do your part to protect Amherst information and comply with the Information Security Policy. This includes never sharing your Amherst password with anyone, keeping your computers and devices secured when not in use, and taking appropriate care when dealing with sensitive College data. You should review other IT policies as applicable, such as the policy that covers use of public IT facilities.

Get Started

New faculty accounts are created soon after offers are accepted. New faculty will receive an email from IT Support Services with information about their account and password.
New faculty who are eligible for replacement-cycle computers should review the available computer model choices and make a selection.
Departments must work with IT Support Services to select and provide computer equipment for new staff. The supervisor or designated staff member should contact the IT Help Desk to begin the process and allow at least two weeks in advance of the employee start date to allow time for equpment to be prepared.

When your position starts you may need to do the following to get access to various resources:

Work with Human Resources to complete your employment paperwork and receive your ID card request form.
Provide your ID card request form to Dining Services so they can create your card.
All new employees are required to complete New Employee Information Security Training soon after starting work at the college. You will receive an email inviting you to complete the online training.

Your Email

Your Amherst email address will be yourusername@amherst.edu. If you work for other entities such as Five Colleges, your email address will reflect that and will be for example @fivecolleges.edu instead.

To access your Amherst email from off-campus, go to https://gmail.com and, when prompted, log in with your Amherst email address then in a subsequent window your Amherst username and password. You may need to first log out if you have your own Google account then log in with your Amherst credentials providing email address, user name and password as prompted. The type of account is institutional or enterprise.

We can also help you access your email using mobile devices if you wish to do so. See our Email & Calendaring service description webpage for detailed informations and links to instructions.

Network Access While Off-campus

The IT department supports off-campus access to a variety of resources on the Amherst network. You can read your email, get to your personal Userfile (U: drive) network storage and other network storage spaces and your web space, access restricted library databases, run license-restricted software on your College computer, and, if you have proper authorization, access the Colleague administrative database systems by using Amherst VPN - a virtual private network connection.

Cloud Storage

We offer cloud-based storage through Dropbox and Google Drive. Please contact us if you need any assistance or guidance with cloud storage solutions.

Network Storage Shares

Your account provides access to secure personal network storage space for your documents (known as your Userfiles or U: drive), and--in administrative offices--your department network storage (known as your department network share, department shared drive or I: drive). Some departments have multiple network shares for different purposes, such as image storage, financial data storage, etc.

Your Voicemail

Your Campus phone will have voicemail/integrated messaging, and the number will be the same as the last four digits of your office telephone extension. If you don't wish to have a campus phone, you may opt for a voicemail only option. A temporary password and instructions for using voicemail, along with information about phone service, voicemail, and emergency notification, will be provided to you via email shortly after your start date.

Computer Discounts and Loans

Resources for Teaching and Research

New faculty members should contact the Academic Technology Services department to learn about support for curricular applications and about course websites.

The Registrar maintains password-protected access to class lists and advisee information through AC Data, and to a Faculty web page with information and announcements, e.g. online grading instructions.