Help Desk

Information Technology

Google Apps for Education

Reed College has contracted with Google to provide the campus community with sharable access to their core suite of apps--Google Mail, Calendar, Google Drive, Contacts, and Google Groups.  Though these resources offer substantial value and convenience to Reed’s students, faculty and staff, they must be used with caution in order to avoid the hazards inherent with many “cloud” based solutions.  These hazards include:
  • Data loss:  The cloud is not always backed up.  Follow our tips in the Getting Started with... pages below to learn how to back up your Google Apps data.
  • Unintended access:  It’s easy to over-share.  With just a few clicks, you can easily (or accidentally) share your data with the Internet at large!  In the cloud, you get to control access to your data so you need to be extra careful.
  • Exposure of confidential information: Storing unencrypted personal information in the cloud that could be used for identity theft –– such as social security numbers, birthdates, bank account numbers, driver's licenses, health care data, payroll data, etc. –– should be avoided. Learn more about data classifcation and guidance.

IT staff support the core suite of Google Apps--Email, Calendar, Drive, and Groups.

gmail-icon.png Google Email

Reed email (mail.reed.edu) is hosted by Gmail! Learn how to access it through a web browser or an app on your mobile device by visiting our Getting started with Gmail page.

calendar-icon.pngGoogle Calendar

Google Calendar (calendar.reed.edu) is a campus-wide calendaring system that allows flexible sharing of calendars and events with others in the Reed community. Check out the basics of Google Calendar by visiting our Getting Started with Calendar page.

drive-icon.pngGoogle Drive

Google Drive (docs.reed.edu) is an online set of tools that allows for easy creation, collaboration and sharing of documents. Our Getting Started with Drive page will walk you through a few of the basics.

Great consideration and care should be used when dealing with confidential or sensitive information in Google Drive.

groups-icon.pngGoogle Groups

Google Groups (groups.reed.edu) can be used for email communication, inviting to calendar events, and the sharing of google docs/shared drives. To learn more, visit our Google Groups page.