What's Happening?

Baldwin Wallace University is dedicated to supporting our alumni community and protecting the security of the information entrusted to us. As cybersecurity threats, privacy requirements, and technology expectations have evolved, maintaining alumni email accounts indefinitely has become increasingly difficult to justify. As part of our ongoing commitment to security and responsible stewardship of University systems, BW is retiring the "email for life" program for alumni accounts ending in @mail.bw.edu.

We understand that your BW email account has helped you stay connected with the University and fellow alumni. However, several important factors have led to this decision:

• Security and risk management: Cybersecurity is the primary reason BW retired alumni email accounts. Colleges and universities have become increasingly frequent targets of phishing attacks, account takeovers, ransomware, and other cyber threats. Maintaining thousands of alumni email accounts significantly expands the number of potential entry points into university systems. While all email accounts can be targeted, inactive and infrequently monitored accounts present a heightened risk because compromised accounts can be difficult to detect and may be used to send phishing messages, spam, or other malicious content.

  Protecting the information entrusted to Baldwin Wallace by students, faculty, staff, alumni, and university partners requires us to reduce those risks wherever possible. In addition, BW's cyber insurance assessments and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) compliance audits have identified as a best practice limiting email accounts to active employees and currently enrolled students to reduce institutional risk and strengthen the University's security posture. As cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, maintaining alumni email accounts indefinitely is no longer consistent with the University's responsibility to protect its systems and data.

• Compliance and liability: Evolving data privacy standards make it difficult to justify indefinite access to BW systems after graduation.
• Resource impact: Maintaining these accounts requires ongoing IT support for forgotten passwords, account recovery, and security monitoring.
• Consistency: Other digital services, such as learning systems and cloud storage, are not available beyond graduation.

By retiring alumni email accounts, we are aligning with best practices to protect your information and the University’s reputation.

We’re Here to Support You

We know that change like this can feel inconvenient, and we want you to know that our goal is never to take anything away from our alumni. Instead, we’re making this update to ensure your information stays secure and our systems remain strong for years to come. Your connection to Baldwin Wallace doesn’t depend on an email account — it lives in the experiences you had here and the community you’re always a part of.

While alumni email accounts are being retired, our commitment to our graduates remains unchanged. Your connection to Baldwin Wallace University is lifelong. We look forward to continuing to engage with alumni through events, communications, networking opportunities, mentoring, volunteer service, and the many other ways our BW community stays connected.

Thank you for your understanding and for being a valued member of the BW family.