The University Account credentials are your Alcorn Email address and password, and you use those two things to access a myriad of Alcorn’s digital services, including Student and Employee Email, Office 365, Canvas, campus Wi-Fi, Banner, Slate, Upswing, and more. Keep reading to learn the two parts to accessing all of these nifty resources by setting up your University Account for use — part one, Activating Your Account and part two, Setting Up Multifactor Authentication (MFA).

 

Part I – Activating Your University Account

The very first step is to activate your University Account is to activate it, which helps you gets you your email address and sets up the password for all our services. Please note that the bold text is text that you should see on your device’s screen.

  1. Go to selfserve.alcorn.edu
  2. Select General
  3. Select Change/Reset Password (if you do not see this tab, scroll down to locate)
  4. Enter your ASU ID number (e.g., A10912345) as your User ID.
  5. Enter your six-digit PIN.
  6. Select Login.
  7. Select Personal Information.
  8. Select Activate/Update Your University Account.
  9. On the next page you will be greeted by name on the screen. It’s not uncommon for this page to sometimes take up to 1 or 2 minutes to appear. When you see your name, click the Next button.
  10. Accept or Decline the Acceptable Use Policy by clicking I accept or I do not accept, respectively. (If you’d like to read this policy over in detail after this process, you can get to the latest version by going to www.alcorn.edu/aup)
  11. Next, you use your keyboard to create/change your password, making sure to pay close attention to the password restrictions on the page.
  12. Re-enter your password to confirm it, and if you entered it successfully, then you’re all set! Make sure to take note of your email address, and move on to the next part below to further secure your account.

 

Part II – Setting up Multifactor Authentication (MFA)

This next part of the process is super important, as this is needed to access University Account services that require an extra layer of security before accessing them (which will eventually be all University services). If you don’t set this up, you’ll miss out on accessing some really important services. Before we begin, it’s important to note that these particular steps are best done with both (1) a desktop/laptop computer running Windows or macOS and (2) a smartphone. Also note that the bold text is text that you should see on your device’s screen and text that looks like this is text that you should type on your device.

  1. Go to mfa.alcorn.edu on your computer’s web browser.
  2. Enter your University Account username — the Alcorn Email address you just got in the steps from Part I above — on top of the line that says Email or phone. If you see another email address that’s not your Alcorn Email address already on this page, click on + Add Another Account.
  3. Enter your University Account password on the next page and click on the Sign in button.
  4. Next, on your computer screen, you will see instructions telling you to download & install the Microsoft Authenticator app. Go to the App Store or Google Play Store to get the Microsoft Authenticator app installed on your phone.
  5. Once you have the app installed, go ahead & open it. If prompted, we recommend you Allow notifications and carefully review & choose whether or not to Accept the terms of Microsoft’s Privacy Statement and whether or not to send use data to Microsoft; tap on Continue.
  6. Click the Next button on your computer screen and follow the prompts to set up your account.
  7. On your smartphone, when prompted to Sign in with Microsoft or Add a work or school account, choose instead to Scan a QR code.
  8. On your computer screen, click on the Next button and follow the prompts until you get to a QR code on your screen. Use the phone to scan the QR code on the screen. If it’s been done successfully, you will see a blue six-digit code on your screen.
  9. On your computer, click Next once more and you will see a text box to enter the six-digit code into.

If everything goes well, you will see success on the computer screen, showing that you have finished the MFA setup process!

If you have trouble with these steps, reach out to us by either calling 601-877-CITS (2487) or emailing [email protected].