UH Account Information
Online services are being offered by UH to make your university experience more convenient. A UH account (username and password) is required for you to use any online service. For UH, this user account is called your UH Username.
Table of Contents
- UH Account Requirements
- UH Account Management and Changes
- UH Account Closure
- UH Account Privacy Policy
Account Eligibility
You must be a faculty, staff, or registered student with University of Hawai'i to obtain a UH Username. Emerti faculty and UH affiliates are also allowed. Your UH Username is your account for the duration of your career at the University of Hawai'i. Please review the table below for examples of eligibility.
| Email Account Type | Duration of the Account | Where We Get the Information |
|---|---|---|
| Registered Student | Until graduation | Student Information System |
| Faculty/Staff | Until termination of employment | Office of Human Resources |
| Emeriti | Perpetual, renewable annually by email reminder message | President's Office |
| Affiliate | One year, annually renewable upon request | Dean or Director |
| Departmental Account | One year, annually renewable upon request | Dean or Director |
| Registered Independent Organizational (RIO) Account |
One year, annually renewable upon request | Campus Center |
UH Usernames, and services accessed through UH Usernames, are governed by applicable UH policies and State laws, including UH Executive Policy E2.210 and Chapter 708, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
Note for Non-Credit students: Due to the non-automatic creation of UH Usernames for non-credit students, there will be a nominal assessed fee to create accounts for programs that want their students to have a UH Username for email or access privileges. Previously, ITS was absorbing the costs, but regrettably now needs to pass on the costs. Fee is set at $10 per UH Username per academic semester (or equivalent time period). For additional questions, please call the ITS Help Desk, (808) 956-8883 on Oahu or toll free (800) 558-2669 from neighbor islands, and ask to escalate to a staff member.
Username Rules and Guidelines
UH Usernames are used for many University of Hawai'i services including UH Email. This should be kept in mind when creating the account. The following are rules that constitute a valid UH Username including Departmental and Registered Independent Organizational (RIO) accounts:
- A UH Username will be at least 2 characters and at most 8 characters in length, with at least 2 letter characters.
- A UH Username will only consist of number and letter characters, and no special characters.
- A UH Username will start with a letter character.
- A UH Username will not have the numbers 1, 5, or 0 after letter characters to prevent mistaking those numbers for the letters L, S, or O.
- A UH Username will not have numbers between letter characters.
The rules above are in place for all UH Usernames and must be adhered to. The following rules listed are primarily in place for individual accounts:
- A UH Username will be based on the user's legal name as it appears in the University of Hawai'i record.
- A UH Username will not contain sensitive personal information including the social security number, or date of birth in part or in whole.
You must activate your UH account before you can use your UH Email (Note: This was called an UH Email Account previous to September 2004). After your UH account is activated, your email address is your UH username with @hawaii.edu (e.g. the username “johns” would have the email address johns@hawaii.edu). Your UH email account is used for important campus information and should be checked periodically.
For specific instructions on activating or managing your UH Account, like reseting your password or changing your account's security questions, please select your role at the University:
- Student
- Staff/Faculty
- University of Hawai’i Affiliate
- University of Hawai’i ‘Ohana (Alumni and Former Faculty)
- University of Hawai’i Retirees and Emeriti
Note: Departmental and Organizational (RIO) usernames, that is, usernames that are used on behalf of departments or organizations, are handled separately from individual accounts. To manage or request a Departmental or Organizational username, please visit www.hawaii.edu/its/id.
Changes to Your UH Username
UH usernames are based on your legal name or preferred name as it appears on official UH records. Active faculty, staff, or students can request a username change under the following circumstances:
- There is a misspelling in your name which also appears in your UH Username
- Your legal name or preferred name has changed and your UH Username no longer reflects your legal or preferred name
Note: Your legal name or preferred name must be changed/updated at the appropriate UH office before requesting the username change. If your name has not yet been updated in official UH records, ITS will not process the username change request.
- Students: Please check with your campus' Admissions and Records office for proper procedures and documentation to make a name change on your student records.
- Faculty & Staff: Please check with your personnel officer to make a name change in PeopleSoft.
If one of these situations apply to you, contact the ITS Help Desk with your request to change your UH Username. You will be asked to verify your identity and provide a legitimate reason for the username change (e.g., marriage, divorce, legal name change, preferred name change, etc.).
For more information on UH's Preferred Name Policy, please visit https://www.hawaii.edu/policy/?action=viewPolicy&policySection=ep&policyChapter=7&policyNumber=302.
Instructions for Requesting a UH Username Change
By Phone
Please call the ITS Help Desk at (808) 956-8883 or toll-free from neighbor islands (800) 558-2669 and inquire about changing your username.
By Email
Email the ITS Help Desk at help@hawaii.edu and inquire about changing your username.
After you have made the request to change your UH Username, ITS will email you to confirm the request for a UH Username change. Once you have received this confirmation email, you must send a reply back to ITS. This reply will confirm that you want to change your UH Username. After ITS has received the reply from you, your UH Username will be changed to the new UH Username and the account should be available in one to two business days. Your password is moved to your new account. It does not change.
You may also request that mail sent to your old email address be delivered to your new email address. This gives you time to notify correspondents of the change in your UH Username and unsubscribe from mailing lists. If you request this option, the following will occur:
- The old account is disabled and made inaccessible by ITS.
- ITS moves all files associated with the old account over to the new account.
- The old account is configured by ITS such that email to the old account automatically goes to the new account for up to 30-days.
Note: you will be responsible for notifying your contacts of your email address change.
- Students, Non-retiring Faculty/Staff, and UH Affiliates
- Retiring Faculty/Staff, and Emeriti
- Deceased Student or Employee/Affiliate
- UH Account Termination
Student, Non-retiring Faculty/Staff, and UH Affiliate
Students who are not registered for classes for consecutive (Fall, Spring) semesters, Faculty and Staff who leave UH, but are not retiring, and UH Affiliates whose affiliations expire, transition to the role of 'Ohana. 'Ohana will have a grace period of up to 180 days, during which they will continue to have full access to basic online services, unless there is a request to terminate the UH Email Account sooner, or because of violations to the acceptable use policy (https://www.hawaii.edu/infotech/policies/itpolicy.html). ITS will inform each individual via email when they begin the grace period and ITS will send periodic reminders throughout the grace period to help keep them aware of the approach of the end of the grace period. During the grace period, they will have the option to enroll in our 'Ohana online services, which will keep the individual's UH email account active and available.
After the grace period ends, if an individual has enrolled in our 'Ohana online services, their UH email account, along with all email messages and folders stored in the account, will continue to be available contingent on annual renewal of this enrollment. The UH email account, and all email messages and documents stored in the account, will be no longer be available should an individual fail to enroll in 'Ohana online services prior to the end of the grace period.
Retiring Faculty/Staff, and Emeriti
Faculty and Staff who retire from UH, as well as Emeriti, are allowed continued use of their UH Email Account. Use of the UH Email Account is subject to an annual renewal. Email reminders will be sent to Retirees and Emeriti regarding their respective upcoming renewal deadline. For more details about basic online services for Retirees and Emeriti, see https://www.hawaii.edu/askus/933.
Deceased Student or Employee/Affiliate
Student
In the unfortunate event that a UH student should pass away, the following procedure will be used by ITS:
-
The appropriate Dean of Student Services notifies the ITS Help Desk of the event. The following information is required so that the ITS Help Desk can create an auto-reply message.
- UH Username or UH Number of the deceased
- Name of the deceased
-
ITS will set the account to auto-reply to incoming messages. The standard message (subject to change by Dean) is:
This is an automated message:
This email is no longer available. - ITS clears the password.
- On the date ITS is notified of the event, the account will remain open for 180 days, after which the account is deleted.
Employee/Affiliate
In the unfortunate event that an employee or UH affiliated person should pass away, the following procedure will be used by ITS:
-
Dean/Director notifies ITS of the event and ITS will change the account’s password. The following information is required so that ITS can create an auto-reply message and to ensure that no new email is accepted
- Name of the deceased
- Responsible party in the unit to whom external correspondents can be referred, typically the manager, department chair, dean, director, etc. For this individual, we require their name, title, and email address.
- Dean/Director notifies ITS of the email agent who will be responsible for reviewing the email of the deceased to ensure that no official business is outstanding. The email agent would be the person entrusted to go through the desk of the deceased to separate personal items from UH business materials.
-
ITS will set the account to auto-reply to incoming messages. The standard message (subject to change by Dean/Director) is:
This is an automated message.
First name Last name is no longer working at the University of Hawaii.
You may contact Responsible-First name Responsible-Last name, Responsible-Title, at responsible-email-address. - ITS clears password and forwards it to the email agent
- The email agent identified reviews all old emails to identify any unread messages that require official action/response. These are either replied to or forwarded as appropriate based on context. Upon completion of the review and handling, the email agent can either delete all messages or ask ITS to do so.
- On the date ITS is notified of the event, the account will remain open for 180 days, after which the account is deleted.
Account Termination
University unit authorities (e.g. Vice Presidents, Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Deans, Directors, Department Head, Administrative Officers, etc.) can request a UH Account termination for a faculty, staff, or affiliate under their purview by making a formal request on departmental letterhead. The signature of the University unit authority (or their designee) is required. When the termination is requested, it is possible that the individual using the UH Account has established additional affiliations with UH, such as becoming a student or becoming a faculty or staff with another UH unit. ITS will research all termination requests in order to ascertain if there are additional affiliations by the individual. If there are no other affiliations, the UH Email Account will be flagged for termination. By default, the UH Account will remain open for 180 days. If access to the UH Account must be immediately cut-off, the letter must explicitly request this.
Requests should be sent via File Drop to the ITS Help Desk at help@hawaii.edu
Under normal circumstances, email is considered private and is not subject to audit or review except as stated in UH Executive Policy E2.210: “Use and Management of Information Technology Resources”. UH Systemwide Policies and Procedures Information can be found by visiting www.hawaii.edu/policy.
