Technology Offboarding for Retiring Faculty 

ITS supports Carleton’s faculty as they move from an employed faculty position into retirement. We recognize that emeritus faculty require different levels of technology access, resources, and support at different times of their retirement:

  1. Level 1: is for faculty in their first year of retirement (and those approved to continue in Level 1) as they establish their post-retirement technology environment.  
  2. Level 2: is for faculty past their first year of retirement who continue to use and securely manage a Carleton mailbox and associated Google applications.
  3. Level 3: is for faculty who maintain an information-based connection to the College through an email forward and a login for web-based resources like Carleton Today and the campus directory.

Moving between Levels

Faculty in Level 1 or Level 2 use Carleton technologies that can be exploited by hackers and cybercriminals — in ways that could cause great damage to Carleton — and will, therefore, be required to successfully complete the College’s annual cybersecurity training in October of each year. 

Faculty in level 1 are automatically moved to level 2 after a (usually yearlong) review of their digital assets in partnership with the Director of Academic Technologies. Faculty in level 1 can request an extension based in part on upcoming publication dates, ongoing use of Carleton research spaces and equipment, or other time-limited scholarly or artistic projects. This request should be made to the Office of the Provost and will be reviewed by the Provost and the Chief Technology Officer. 

Most emeritus faculty will be at Level 2. To remain in level 2, the faculty member must be the person managing their Carleton technology (not a family member or other representative) and must successfully pass the annual cybersecurity training, which currently includes four phishing simulations. The College reserves the right to move a retired faculty member to Level 3 if there is evidence that a faculty member’s use of technology creates an unacceptable level of risk for the institution. 

The emeritus faculty member may, at any time, decide that they no longer wish to keep the access granted to them and can request to be moved to Level 3 as a way of receiving information from the College without the need to manage Carleton technology directly.

In Level 1, faculty will continue to have access to the following Carleton resources.

  1. Login: full Carleton login to existing resources (with multifactor authentication).
  2. Email: full access with ITS support to move personal information, such as photos and financial data, into a personal email account to provide ongoing access for family members or other close advisors. 
  3. Storage: full access to current storage options with ITS support to move storage to Google and to reduce to a limit of 100GB. Access to non-Google storage (such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Panopto, Imagen, and ArcGIS) will be removed at the end of the transition period.
  4. Software:  
  • Google: full access to all Google applications
  • Microsoft Office:  full access to desktop applications, with the goal that the faculty member will determine how they will access these documents for future use, e.g., MS Office on a personal computer or personal Office365
  • Moodle: full access in order to download or handoff course materials, including Advising Courses 
  • CarlSites:  full access in order to move sites to the Carleton Digital Commons or a personally managed website outside of Carleton
  • WordPress: access to make edits, e.g. to the Faculty bio
  • Adobe products (such as Acrobat, Creative Cloud, Adobe Express) will generally not be available to emeriti, but can be requested for special cases 
  • Access to other Carleton software (e.g., statistical programs and Zoom) is not provided, but can be requested for special cases. 
  1. Hardware:  the faculty member can keep their assigned computer to facilitate the transition to a personally owned computer.  Other hardware bought by the College may also be retained (e.g., iPad, displays). At the end of the Level 1 status, ITS will provide a prepaid box to ship the computer and/or other hardware back to campus with the exception of external hard drives which faculty can retain as a backup. 
  2. ITS Support: ITS is available to provide support on strategies to manage files and emails, e.g., deletion or moving to a new storage platform. ITS will continue to support use of Carleton hardware and software. Carleton computers “call home” for monthly updates while on campus; off-campus users will need to connect to the Carleton network via VPN (GlobalProtect) every month to ensure the computer is getting current security patches and retaining active licenses (e.g. Windows and Office products will lose access after 180 days without a successful check-in). 
  3. Other: a faculty member who is preparing for retirement should talk with the Provost’s Office about any other technology access they may want to continue, including access to research equipment or applications. These conversations should happen when the retiring faculty member starts discussing their retirement plans with the Provost. Faculty who are used to working with deep support from  Carleton staff members will need to identify and work with outside collaborators.

In Level 2, faculty will retain access to their Carleton email account, login, and some cloud storage which they can access from their personally-owned hardware.

  1. Login: full Carleton login (with multifactor authentication) for access to Google and web-based resources like Carleton Today, campus directory, and library journals. 
  2. Email and Storage: continued access to Gmail and Google Drive, with a combined limit of 100GB. See note in Level 1 regarding separation of personal communications: a Carleton account is only available to the individual associated with the account. Therefore, no other family members or personal representatives would be granted access to the account, even in an emergency situation. 
  3. Software: continued access to Google applications (such as Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Gemini AI).
  4. Hardware: faculty will provide their own hardware, including computer, display, printer, and iPad. Hardware purchased through a grant or FDA funds should be discussed with the Provost’s Office and the Business Office before finalizing retirement plans. 
  5. ITS Support: the ITS Helpdesk will provide support for using the Carleton login, including password and authentication issues. When users request support for personally owned devices and software, Carleton ITS will guide them to non-Carleton resources, e.g., online help, local computer shop. 

In Level 3, faculty will maintain an information-based connection to the College. (The ITS Helpdesk and Director of Academic Technology can provide support in migrating emails and documents from Carleton to personal accounts during the move from level 2 to level 3.) 

  1. Login: logging in to Carleton applications is no longer available. Web-based resources, such as Carleton Today and the campus directory, can be accessed by requesting a “web login.” 
  2. Email: the Carleton email address can be set up to forward (any email that is received) to a personal address allowing the emeriti to continue to receive information from Carleton and others who know the faculty member’s @carleton.edu address.  Email sent from the personal email address will show the new address as the sender (and not the Carleton email address). 
  3. Storage: access to Google storage is no longer available. 
  4. Software: access to Google applications is no longer available.
  5. ITS support: Carleton’s published support materials continue to be available, but Carleton ITS can no longer provide support, with certain exceptions such as spam that appears to be coming from Carleton. Cybersecurity training is no longer required.

Please contact the Chief Technology Officer and/or the Provost with any questions about these guidelines. 

last updated: 9/29/2025