MSUM Online Help Desk

List Serves FAQ

What Are List Serves?
Campus list serves are email mailing lists. For example, a campus organization can set up a list serve for communication purposes within the organization. Let’s say the Poetry Club has a list called poetryclub. Mary, a member of the Poetry Club, wants to email the other members a new poem. Instead of entering individual email addresses, she simply sends the message to poetryclub@mnstate.edu. The same thing works for classes or other campus groups.
 

A list serve can be either public or private. The Poetry Club has a public list serve. All members can send messages to the entire list. A private list serve is a little different. Messages sent to a private list serve first go to the administrator of the list. The administrator must approve all messages.

Here are a few important MSUM mailing lists:
 

  • Dragonews – this public list provides general school info to the campus. All faculty and staff are put on the list, but they can choose to unsubscribe. Students may choose to subscribe to Dragonews.
  • Official – this private list sends out official MSUM information, such as emergency announcements, Office of the President announcements, etc. All faculty and staff are subscribed to the list, and they may not unsubscribe. Students may choose to subscribe.
  • HR_Payroll_Update – this private list sends out official MSUM Payroll and Human Resources notices. All faculty and staff are subscribed to the list, and they may not unsubscribe.
  • Student_Dragonews – this private list sends student related notices. All students are subscribed, and they can choose to unsubscribe. Faculty and staff may choose to subscribe.
  • Student_Official – this private list sends out official MSUM information, such as emergency announcements, Office of the President announcements, etc. All students are subscribed to the list, and they may not unsubscribe.

 

Lists.mnstate.edu – this server is our primary list server and contains the lists named above and other lists with information of interest to the general campus. This server is accessible on the web for easy interaction. Go to http://www.mnstate.edu/helpdesk/email/listserves/ to subscribe or learn more about the lists.mnstate.edu server.

 

Getting A New List
Faculty may create an automatic distribution list for their classes by following the instructions on the Create an Automatic Class Distribution List page.
 

If you are an organization leader and you would like to set up a list serve for your organization, please contact Information Technology at support@mnstate.edu.
 

For special requests regarding any list serve, please contact Information Technology at support@mnstate.edu.

 

Advanced List Serve Information
To learn more about subscribing, unsubscribing, viewing lists, etc., see MSUM's List Serves page.