MacDirect FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

As Macalester’s online alumni directory, MacDirect provides easy and quick ways to get in touch with other alumni, update the college with new contact information and life changes, share your news and accomplishments with the alumni community, and find information on your giving history.

Who has access to MacDirect?

Alumni and current Macalester students have access to MacDirect. If you are faculty or staff requesting access to MacDirect please contact [email protected].

How do alumni use MacDirect?

Alumni use MacDirect to stay connected to the college and greater Macalester community. It is an easy way to find classmates, network professionally, or research alumni who have attended specific graduate institutions.

MacDirect is a convenient way for alumni to keep their information up-to-date with the college, which helps Macalester share with them relevant college news, event invitations, volunteer opportunities, and ways to support the college. Alumni can also share their life news by posting their professional accomplishments, wedding or birth announcements, job changes, and recent Mac connections as Class Notes.

I forgot my password?

You can reset your password clicking the “Forgot Your Password?” link on the login page. You will need to enter the email address you registered with and your birthdate to confirm your account. If you are having difficulty contact [email protected].

What does “hidden” mean?

If you are “Hidden” your public profile is not viewable or searchable by anyone in MacDirect. You can still go into MacDirect and edit your profile and preferences but other alumni will not be able to find you or see your profile.

To change your status, go to your profile. Under the profile section click “Directory Information”. Select “yes” or “no” under “Display Profile In The Directory”.

What does “visible” mean?

If you are “Visible” your public profile is viewable and searchable by anyone in MacDirect. You can go edit what information is visible in your public profile and preferences to users in MacDirect.

To change your status, go to your profile. Under the profile section click “Directory Information”. Select “yes” or “no” under “Display Profile In The Directory”.

What information on my profile is hidden from other MacDirect users?

By default, for alumni users who have not customized the visibility of their profile details, the following information is hidden from other Macdirect users:

Home address(es)
Seasonal address(es)
All phone numbers
All email addresses

Your giving history is always hidden from public view and will never be visible to other users.

Can I change what information is visible to other users?

To change the visibility of any of your information, click on the “eye” icon to the right of any information. You can edit the visibility of any of your information.

Visible in public view

Hidden from public view

What are the image icons on profiles?

Loves Macalester: They are a Volunteer.
Volunteers show their love for Mac by supporting its mission through their gifts of time, talents, and treasure, and by telling friends and neighbors about the excellence and uniqueness of a Macalester education.

Career Helper: Career Helpers are Macalester alumni who have raised a hand as a potential resource for current students in their career exploration.

How do I message alumni in MacDirect?

If a user has their email visible, you can email them directly. You can also use the “Message” function. When you message someone they will get an email that they have a message waiting in MacDirect. You can view your messages under the messages tab. You will be able to see all of your messages and message history there.

Can I use MacDirect to start my own company, non-profit, or political campaign?

No. Information available in MacDirect is for official College use as well as for personal communication between alumni. Use of MacDirect for commercial or political purposes violates our terms and conditions. MacDirect prohibits the use of its information or communications for cold-calling of any kind, including solicitations, mass-mailings and/or emails. Misuse will result in loss of access privileges. Please report misuse to [email protected].

Review Terms & Conditions

How do students use MacDirect?

Click the “Login with Google” button on the right side of the login page. Use your Macalester email as your login email account.

Macalester students have access to MacDirect to aid in networking and exploring career options. Student users often search for alumni who work in specific industries or at certain companies and will reach out to alumni for informational interviews and/or career advice. Students can reach out to alumni using the “message” feature.

Alumni can encourage students to contact them about career advice by turning on their Career Helper badge.

Why can't I see student profiles?

By default, all student profiles are hidden in MacDirect. This is done to comply with federal laws regarding how colleges and universities may share information about their students. Students may, if they choose, make their profiles visible in their profile page.

How do I delete my MacDirect profile?

You can make your profile not visible but still have access to MacDirect. If you want to delete your profile, please send an email to [email protected] requesting you would like your profile to be removed from MacDirect. Once you are removed, you will no longer have access to MacDirect.

MacDirect Terms and Conditions

Introduction

The Macalester College Alumni Online Community (MacDirect) is provided by the Macalester College Alumni Office (the College). It is designed to facilitate communication among alumni for personal or college-related purposes.

I. Privacy and Security

The College respects the privacy of the information that you put on this site. All alumni information is strictly guarded for use by individual alumni and the College for personal and College-related purposes only.

The College has taken reasonable precautions to secure personal information available through MacDirect. MacDirect is password protected to allow access by registered College alumni only. You acknowledge information that you share can be viewed by other alumni. Although password protection should effectively protect any personal information available through MacDirect from abuse or outside interference, a certain degree of risk is faced any time information is shared. Therefore, through the Online Directory feature of MacDirect, you have the ability to hide some or all of your information from being viewed by other community members and it is your responsibility to maintain your preferred privacy settings within the online community.

III. Policy and Guidelines for Appropriate Use

To safeguard the operation of MacDirect, The College has adopted guidelines and policies to govern conduct, particularly conduct that occurs in online environments like Mac Direct.

In addition to the College’s privacy policy, users of MacDirect must abide by the following specific rules and regulations:

Unauthorized copying, reproduction, republishing, uploading, downloading, posting, transmitting or duplicating any of the material is prohibited. You may download or copy any downloadable materials displayed on MacDirect for home, noncommercial and personal use only; provided, however, that you maintain all copyright, trademark and other notices contained in such material and you agree to abide by all additional copyright notices or restrictions contained in any material accessed through the MacDirect.
Use of information or communications available through MacDirect for any commercial, public or political purposes is strictly prohibited. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to, solicitations for commercial services, cold-calling of any kind or mass-mailings for commercial purposes. Information available through MacDirect may be used for specific personal and College-related purposes only.
Users shall not restrict nor inhibit any other user from enjoying any service on MacDirect. Posting of obscene materials or use of obscene language, posting of vulgar materials, or use of vulgar language, or use of abusive, defamatory, profane, or threatening language of any kind, will constitute a violation of these policies governing the use of the MacDirect. Additionally, users shall not upload, transmit, distribute or otherwise publish any materials containing malware or any other harmful component.
All aliases adopted by MacDirect users are subject to approval by the College to ensure that the proper image is associated with the institution.

Macalester College is not responsible for screening communications in advance, and will not actively monitor the use of MacDirect. For this reason, it is essential that the alumni users of MacDirect report any abuses or misuse of MacDirect to the College. If the College determines that a user’s participation in MacDirect creates a liability for the College or that the user has violated the policies set forth herein, the College reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to take actions against the user. The College reserves the right to expel a user and deny a user further access to MacDirect if such user violates these policies or any applicable laws or regulations.

Please note that the College may revise these policies and your continued use of the site constitutes your agreement to comply with such modifications. You should review the policies periodically to ensure that you are familiar with them.

Participation in MacDirect is a privilege. By continuing to use this web application, you agree to abide by MacDirect policies outlined herein.

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