UMD retirees are eligible for a variety of retiree benefits (e.g., access to the Campus Recreation Center for a fee, overflow lot parking, bookstore discounts, shuttle bus access, and in-person library privileges).
In addition, all retirees (faculty and staff) currently retain UMD electronic account access, including email, indefinitely. The electronic services provided to retirees are summarized in IT Services for Retirees. This benefit is separate from (and not dependent on) emeritus status.
All digital access and accounts for retired faculty and staff are subject to UMD policies including the Acceptable Use Policy and may be terminated for violations of policy.
NOTE: This change affects only UMD electronic account access (Gsuite). It does not change other retiree benefits.
Emeritus faculty and staff will receive five (5) years of electronic access (including email) at the time of retirement.
Effective 4/1/2026, faculty and staff who retire and are not granted emeritus status will have their electronic access disabled on the same date as if they had resigned. To learn more about when account access ends, review the KB article on Account Terminations for Faculty and Staff.
DIT will work to develop materials to help retirees transition from their UMD account to personal accounts.
UMD systems are provided for UMD business and are not intended for personal use. Retirees who are not emeritus, generally have no official UMD business.
Accounts create the potential for reputational risk and pose a compliance burden. Misuse of retiree accounts has resulted in court orders and substantial staff time to manage. This misuse can include criminal activity such as fraud and child pornography. Beyond this, any content in retiree accounts is still subject to the Maryland Public Information Act (“MPIA”) and subpoena as part of investigations and litigation. Redacting personal content in retiree accounts as part of the MPIA process creates an exposure for UMD and further burdens the Office of General Counsel operationally.
Additionally, retirees frequently conduct personal business on their accounts. When they pass away, UMD often gets asked to provide content to their next of kin. Even upon death, the contents of a UMD account cannot be provided to next of kin without an individualized review of each file, email and attachment to know if the content is related to UMD business or personal in nature. For context, one recent death involved an account with over 300,000 email messages.
Most services are cloud-based; therefore, UMD pays license fees on a per person basis for many services. Costs incurred include both the services and storage costs. It currently costs $5.00 dollars per year for licenses provided to retirees and $94 dollars per year for licenses for services provided to emeritus faculty and staff.