Alias and Routing E-mail Addresses
Faculty, staff, and students are eligible for a FREE e-mail account through the university. Students can request an account through ISIS. Faculty and staff can request an account at the Customer Information Desk, 2800 UCC.
- Students normally get a "Hawkmail" account (hawkid@iowa.uiowa.edu) — use ISIS to request an account. Information for Hawkmail account holders is available via the web.
- Faculty and staff typically get a "Hawkmail" account (hawkid@iowa.uiowa.edu) — request a Hawkmail account via the web. Information for Hawkmail account holders is available via the web.
What is an alias?
Your university email alias is the address you should always use when sharing your email address. The alias address is typically your first and last names, separated by a hyphen, and followed by "@uiowa.edu" (e.g., jane-doe@uiowa.edu). All university-wide and departmental mass mailings are sent to your alias address, so you must have a valid routing address in order to receive the mailings. Your email alias always remains the same, even if you change your email to a different email provider like Google or Yahoo.
What is a routing address?
For information on routing addresses and changing your routing address, see Hawkmail Support for Routing Addresses.
Your university routing e-mail address is important because that tells you where you are likely reading your email. Most users will be reading their email in Hawkmail, but it is possible to have email sent to your alias go to your Engineering, Google, or Yahoo account. The routing address usually appears in the form "hawkid@iowa.uiowa.edu". Mail sent to the alias addresses of the individuals in the examples below, will be delivered to each person's preferred routing address.
Examples of the alias and routing address working together:
| Alias E-mail Address | Routing E-mail Address |
| jane-adams@uiowa.edu | jadams@iowa.uiowa.edu |
| chris-jones@uiowa.edu | chrisjones@gmail.com |
| mark-jensen@uiowa.edu | markjensen@mchsi.com |
| pat-smith@uiowa.edu | pasmith@hotmail.com |
| john-clark@uiowa.edu | jclark@aol.com |
| mary-clark@uiowa.edu | maryc@yahoo.com |
Changing your routing address:
If you already have a non-university e-mail account and would like to continue to use your Hotmail, AOL, or another account, then you should register your existing account as your "routing" address either in ISIS (students) or via HR Self-Service (faculty & staff).
IMPORTANT NOTE
If you have a university Hawkmail account, and you choose to change your routing address from your Hawkmail account (hawkid@iowa.uiowa.edu) to another account (e.g., gmail), the routing address will only be used if email is sent to you from other e-mail systems. Be aware that mail sent to you from another university Hawkmail account will be delivered to your Hawkmail account regardless of your mail routing address. Therefore you must check both your Hawkmail account and the mailbox of your routing address.
