Texas A&M University Division of Marketing & Communications
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University Division of Marketing & Communications

Mass Email Communications

Internal email accounts are only available to those who are approved to create and distribute official communications on behalf of the units they support.

In partnership with community leads across Texas A&M University, mass email communications provide timely, relevant updates and information to faculty, staff and students. These communications are shared using official templates and include administrative and operational updates, approved event promotions, research study participation opportunities, student communications and more. Concerted efforts are made to showcase areas of positive impact, amplify the good work of our faculty and staff, and tell the story of Texas A&M as a community of Aggies standing to help one another.

Mass email accounts are only available to those who are approved to create and distribute official communications on behalf of the units they support. For more information regarding access, please contact the Digital Experience team.

Examples of Mass Email Communications

Email Requirements

Authorized Senders

Mass email and opt-lists are only available for use by the university community.

Mass email and opt-list distributions can be requested by full-time employees and students for a college/school, department, division or recognized student group as long as the content of the message directly relates to official university business or the university’s mission.

Distribution requests for a university business group need authorization from the leadership overseeing the business group.

Distribution requests for a recognized student organization, undergraduate students, graduate students and participating or representative full-time employees need authorization from the student organization’s faculty or staff advisor of record.

Requests submitted by or on behalf of non-university entities (such as local businesses or organizations) are typically denied. Exceptions are limited to businesses or organizations with an existing relationship with the university (e.g., 12th Man Technology) and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Frequency of Templated Mass Email and Opt-List Communications

To minimize the number of templated mass email communications messages processed and sent to the university community as forced sends or via opt-lists:

  • No more than two messages for the same topic or event will be distributed.
  • Messages for the same topic/event are not sent less than seven days apart except in extenuating circumstances, such as a change of date, time or venue of an event or other needed correction(s) to a previously sent message.
  • When multiple messages are deemed necessary, it is recommended to send an initial message at least one week in advance of the topic or event and a final reminder the day before the topic or event.
  • Research study recruitment messages may be sent on a monthly basis for studies lasting more than a few months.

Expedited requests are not available via opt-list distribution or mass email distributions unless there is prior authorization.

Accessibility

All email requests must meet the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act.

  • No message consisting of only an image will be allowed.
  • Non-decorative images in a message are required to have appropriate alt text.
  • Any materially important information, such as dates and locations of events that are included in an image, must be repeated either in the image’s alt text or repeated in plain text elsewhere in the message.
  • All messages are delivered with a plain-text alternative.
  • Information containing images must have the correct color contrast ratios between background and foreground.

Service Provider Responsibilities

The following are Texas A&M University’s responsibilities:

  • An assessment of email sent behaviors during onboarding to improve efficiencies
  • Maintain appropriately organized and trained staff
  • Develop general templates for account needs (customized templates can be developed on request)
  • Maintain services impacting the email platform:
    • NetID authentication
    • Automated sync of contacts using secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) are provided by Technology Services Identity Management Group
    • Automated contact distribution for sending only internal emails.
  • Monitor service and communicate impacts to users in real time.