Hey there, soon-to-be Pitt graduates. Congratulations on reaching this pivotal milestone in your academic journey! As you prepare to bid farewell to the University of Pittsburgh, it’s time to wrap up some tech items before you go. So, before you toss that cap into the air, here's your essential IT checklist to help you seamlessly transition from Pitt to the future that awaits you!

Get to Know Your Alumni Account

When you graduate, your student university computing account will transition to an alumni account. This account includes many benefits, such as keeping your Pitt email address, use of Pitt Wi-Fi on campus, access to PeopleSoft for obtaining academic records, and continued use of your Pitt Password Manager (LastPass) account.

Keep Using Your Pitt Email

Worried about losing all your important emails? No worries! Your official Pitt email address doesn’t expire upon graduation, so you can continue using your @pitt.edu email address to send and receive emails for as long as you like, provided you log in to your Alumni account at least once a year. Inactive accounts will be deactivated, because they pose a security risk. In addition, it is not recommended that you forward your Pitt email to another address, as this bypasses many of Pitt IT’s phishing detection and remediation tools. Instead, many email clients let you view multiple email accounts in one client.

Manage All Your Accounts

Graduation is a great time to reset your Pitt password so that it remains secure. This is also a good time to unsubscribe from Pitt mailing lists or manage your Canvas notification settings (e.g. if you will remain affiliated with Pitt as an employee), so you don't keep getting regular emails and notifications.

Take a good look at all the accounts you set up using your Pitt email address, from Amazon and Netflix to Instagram and YouTube. If you’ll be switching to a Gmail or other email account, be sure to update them so you continue to receive account notices. Close accounts that you won’t continue to use when you’re no longer a student. (Hackers love unused but active accounts, because they can act as you without you noticing.)

Back Up Your Data

Don't risk losing projects or portfolios you may want to show to a future employer, class materials you can refer to in graduate school or your career; or personal photos and memories from your time at Pitt. You’ll need to move files you want to save from University storage accounts to an external storage drive, your device, or a personal cloud account (e.g., a free Microsoft OneDrive Live or Google Drive account) before you graduate, or they will be lost. You may have files saved in a lot of places, including the following services.

OneDrive

Start with all the files saved in your Pitt OneDrive account, as this will likely contain most of the files you need to back up. Remember that files you saved on a Student Computing Lab desktop were actually saved in your OneDrive account. You may quickly run out of space on your devices or cloud accounts if you save everything, so keep only what you need and delete the rest.

Canvas

Your Canvas account will be disabled when you are no longer a registered student, but you can download course content to view offline (if your professor enabled that feature for their class). In addition, you can download all course assignments submitted via Canvas. Go download that content before graduation, so you have your hard work on file!

Adobe Creative Cloud

If you have a free Adobe Creative Cloud license through Pitt, it includes free storage. Like other Pitt-sponsored accounts, it will expire once you graduate. So be sure to transfer any of your creative files before graduation, or you will lose access to it after graduation.

LabArchives, Panopto, and Zoom

You can download a copy of your LabArchives notebooks for any personal research you completed or lab classes you took. NOTE: If you worked in an established Pitt research lab, all data from the lab is proprietary and should not be downloaded. If you were granted Lecture Capture (Panopto) creator access for class assignments or you recorded any Zoom meetings, you may download the videos saved in your accounts.

Stay Connected

Now is a great time to ask for contact info of professors, friends, and coworkers. Staying connected with your Pitt network can open doors to new opportunities and support your professional growth. Having contacts on file allows you to easily ask for references when applying to graduate school or jobs. Even if you do not need any referrals now, it never hurts to maintain those connections in case you ever need them. You’ll thank yourself later!

Set Up a Professional LinkedIn Presence

Whether you're entering the job market or pursuing further studies, a polished online presence is key. Create or update your LinkedIn profile, ensuring it reflects your academic achievements, skills, and experiences gained at Pitt. Be sure to link your LinkedIn profile with your LinkedIn Learning account, so LinkedIn Learning courses are shown. Haven’t taken the LinkedIn courses you meant to take? Spring 2024 graduates’ free access to LinkedIn Learning will continue for several months in the summer, so go boost that resume while you still can!

Transfer or Obtain Software Licenses

Most of the software that you obtained through Pitt will expire upon graduation. If you've been using any software provided by the University, such as Microsoft 365 or Adobe Creative Cloud, you may want to purchase your own licenses to avoid interruptions in your workflow post-graduation. Other programs and services may still be valid or can be transitioned to an individual account. Zoom and LastPass will revert to a free basic account, without the premium features of the enterprise license.

Clean Out Your Computer

Free up your computer’s resources after graduation, whether it be old files, apps, or media. Once you declutter your device, you’ll be surprised at how much faster it performs! Uninstall any University-provided software. Not only do they take up a lot of your storage capacity, but they may be unknowingly running in the background, using a lot of processing power. See our blog on Doing a Digital Spring Cleaning for tips on decluttering your digital life.

Celebrate Your Achievements

Finally, take a moment to celebrate your achievements and the memories you've made at Pitt. Take plenty of pictures of your final month at Pitt! Graduation marks the culmination of years of hard work and dedication, and you deserve to revel in your success before embarking on the next chapter of your journey. Embrace the opportunities that lie ahead, stay connected with your peers, and never stop learning and growing!

We wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Hail To Pitt!