Penn State's and other phone directories are available on-line through the World Wide Web and other Internet systems. Individuals who establish an affiliation with Penn State as a student or an employee are automatically entered into the directory database. This process normally occurs within one week of entry to Penn State. In addition to information commonly found in telephone books (names, phone numbers, and addresses), the directory also contains e-mail addresses and may contain the address of personal Web pages.
To look up your own or another person's entry, use Penn State's directory on the Web (http://www.psu.edu/ph/).
You might notice that some people have little or no information in the directory, while others may have a substantial amount of information. Some people add more than others, and some, for personal reasons, request that all personal information be withheld. An employee's directory record might include fields such as name, alias, e-mail, campus, phone, address, department, and title. A student's directory record would most likely show the name, alias, e-mail, campus, curriculum, phone, and address. Additional optional fields are available for a fax number, extra phone number, and other personal information such as your birthday or high school. For descriptions of fields, see http://cac.psu.edu/ph on the web.
"Official information" fields contain information about you that is maintained by the University, such as your name, job title, or department. Fields that you cannot change yourself include your name, ID, campus, phone, address, department, and title. To see your information, look up your name in Penn State's directory (http://www.psu.edu/ph/) on the web.
Official information must be changed through Penn State's administrative offices:
University employees must contact their Human Resources Representative (for a listing, see http://www.ohr.psu.edu/pages/chrr.htm).
Human Resources Representatives should use the IBIS function UADR (see http://guru.psu.edu/askguru/f-sdir.html) to correct employee name and telephone information. The OAS Support Center at 814-863-2276 or oas-support@psu.edu can provide assistance if needed.
Students can update address and phone information through the Comprehensive Academic Advising and Information System (CAAIS) Web site (https://elion.oas.psu.edu); an Access Account is required. Other changes to official student information must be made through the Registrar's Office (http://www.psu.edu/registrar).
If you prefer not to be listed in Penn State's directory, you must request removal of your information. See "Confidentiality Requests" section.
Unofficial information fields contain information that you can add or modify yourself, such as your alias, e-mail address, additional phone numbers and addresses, your nickname, and even information such as your birthday, call sign, or pager.
To change your unofficial information, go to https://www.work.psu.edu on the web.
Some information about students and employees is considered directory information. Directory information may be publicly shared by the institution unless the individual takes formal action to restrict its release. If you prefer not to be listed in Penn State's directory, you must request removal of your information. Note that directory information may have been downloaded before removal.
Employees: Contact your Human Resources Representative.
Students: Go to the Registrar's Office, show your student ID, and request confidentiality. Requests are normally processed and made effective the day that they are received. Students should be aware that a request for confidentiality may have some undesirable side effects. For example, if a prospective employer were to contact the Registrar's Office to verify a student's status, the employer could not receive confirmation that the student was attending Penn State. Likewise, if a student were to apply for a credit card with a company that wanted to verify that the applicant was a Penn State student, the Registrar's Office again could not confirm the information. For additional information, see Policy AD11, University Policy on Confidentiality of Student Records and Confidentiality and Security of Student Records (http://guru.psu.edu/policies/AD11.html).
Limitations on Confidentiality Holds: A confidentiality hold pertains only to information that the University publishes about an individual. It does not apply to information individuals have published about themselves. For example, if an individual sends e-mail, posts an article on Usenet News, or puts information on a Web page, that information may be saved and redistributed by others.
Because Web pages are available to the world, individuals should not publish information on their Web pages that they do not want the world to see. Individuals who request confidentiality should also take the appropriate steps to remove personal information from their Web pages. This advice applies no matter what server is used.
Personal Web Pages: The University does not monitor, screen, or edit the information presented on personal Web pages. When an individual applies successfully for personal Web space through the Center for Academic Computing (CAC), a basic Web page is provided that contains information from Penn State's directory. Thereafter the content of the Web space is the responsibility of the individual. (If a person requests confidentiality and then later applies successfully for a Web page through the CAC, a default page is provided, but it shows only the e-mail address of the applicant.) Owners of personal Web space are responsible for any release of personal information within their Web space.
Course Web Pages: Faculty who use the Web to present course materials are responsible for any personal information they may choose to include.
Departmental Web Pages: Colleges, departments, and other official units of the University might publish information about individuals related to their position, research, teaching, or contributions to the University. This information could be published and distributed as an official press release, on a Web site, electronic mailing list, printed publication, or other means. It is the responsibility of the individual to contact the administrative offices of the department with any concerns about the department's release of personal information.
When Penn State students, faculty, and staff are automatically entered into the university's electronic directory, they receive e-mail privileges which enable them to send and receive e-mail using their Access Account user ID and an e-mail address of the form user-ID@psu.edu. For example, if your user ID is xyz123, your public e-mail address would be xyz123@psu.edu. The e-mail is actually delivered to one of the CAC's mail servers where you can retrieve it by connecting to the server with a POP mail client like Eudora. If you have an account on another machine, or temporarily leave the university (go on sabbatical, for example), you may wish to have your e-mail forwarded from the CAC's mail server to another mail server. Your e-mail correspondents could continue using xyz123@psu.edu (in the example above) and would not have to learn a different e-mail address.
To change your mail forwarding address, go to https://www.work.psu.edu/ and choose "Edit your phone directory entry."
A partnership between the Penn State Alumni Association and the Center for Academic Computing provides graduates with a new tool for staying in touch a free, permanent e-mail forwarding address. A class member now can give out a single e-mail address that will stay current for the grad's lifetime. For details, see the Alumni Association Web site at http://www.alumni.psu.edu/benefits/email on the web.
The Department directory information from the 1999/2000 Faculty - Staff Directory is now available at http://www.psu.edu/ur/directory/dept/ on the web. In addition, users can also download the PDF file versions of the department information from this same page.
To assist users, a web page was created for each letter of the alphabet with the information displayed in a table format within each page. Each page also includes instructions at the bottom stating who should be notified if changes are needed. The department directory information is also available under the "Directory Assistance" heading on the Penn State home page (http://www.psu.edu/).