Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Faculty of Applied Sciences

School of Computing Science

School of Computing Science / Support / Guides & Tips / Course E-Mail Lists

Course E-Mail Lists

Which courses have e-mail lists?

Every CMPT course taught during the current semester has a corresponding e-mail list on the sfu.ca domain.
    - we also use "mailing lists" refer to the e-mail lists.

How are the course e-mail lists named?

The name of a course e-mail list is formatted like cmpt-xxx@sfu.ca, where 'xxx' is the course number.

for example, CMPT-101 course e-mail list has the name

cmpt-101 AT sfu DOT ca

* No section number is used if there is a single section.

In the case of multiple sections of a specific course offered in a particular semester, section number like -d1, -d2, -e1, -c1, etc. is added to the name as appropriate. e.g.

cmpt-102-d1 AT sfu DOT ca
cmpt-102-d2 AT sfu DOT ca

Which SFU accounts are added to the course e-mail lists?

  • The course instructor
  • The course teaching assistant(s), aka TA(s)
  • Registered students
  • The ad hoc users added upon special requests from the instructor

For course e-mail lists, when are registered students added and dropped?

The course e-mail lists are automatically updated nightly.
  - the records are obtained from the Student Information System (go.sfu.ca).

How do I find out if I am on a course e-mail list?

If you are receiving announcements sent to a specific course, you are a member of the course e-mail list.

The course instructors can login to https://groups.sfu.ca to view and manage the e-mail lists' membership.

The students cannot unsubscribe from course e-mail lists.

How do I contact my Instructor(s) and/or TA(s)?

In short, please follow your instructor's announcements for contact info.

Some instructors make use of the -help list created for each course.

In this case, send the e-mail to cmpt-xxx-help AT sfu DOT ca, where 'xxx' is the course number.

For example, to contact the instructor and TA(s) for CMPT-103-d3, send email to:

cmpt-103-d3-help AT sfu DOT ca

Whom should I contact about e-mail problems with my account?

If the problem is related to course e-mail lists, please contact us.

For other SFU e-mailing problems, login at the SFU Mail Service page and report the issue.

* Please always include your name, userid (SFU Computing ID), student number, and describe the issue you are experiencing in details.

Who can send to a course e-mail list?

For any CMPT course, only the instructors and TAs can send to the course e-mail list.

If you are a TA but cannot send to the course e-mail list, please contact us.
  - just be sure to identify yourself as the TA of the course (and specific section if it applies) within the message.

Where can I find the messages sent to a specific CMPT course e-mail list?

Please contact the TAs of the course.

Please keep all messages from the instructors, TAs, "CSIL Administrator" and "ServieHub - ITS" of current semester.
    And keep them for 1 more month after the end of the semester.

You may also try to recover messages from the "Junk Email" folder and "Deleted Items" folder within your SFU Mail account.

Tech note: we used to have Hypermail for email archives. But the service had been suspended since Spring 2025.

I plan to configure my SFU Mail to auto-forward; anything I should be aware of?

*IMPORTANT* Do NOT auto-forward your SFU email off-campus.

The benefit of email forwarding does not cover the chaos it creates.

Remember: do NOT auto-forward your SFU email to other email providers.

For more information on SFU Groups - powered by Grouper (replacement of SFU Maillists) please click here.

 

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Last updated @ 2026.02.05