Troubleshooting steps for common Our Northwestern and Alumni Gmail Email login issues, including password resets, username recovery, and alumni email account access.

Our Northwestern Login

• I Forgot my Our Northwestern Password
• I Didn't Receive my Our Northwestern Reset Password Email
• I Forgot my Our Northwestern Username
• I Do Not Have Access to the Email Associated with my Username

Alumni Gmail Account

• I Don't Know my Alumni Gmail Email Address
• I Don't Know my Alumni Gmail Email Account Password
• Alumni Email Password Recovery
• Temporary Password Generated During Alumni Email Registration
• What is my Alumni Gmail Email Account Recovery Address?
• Alumni Email Password Recovery Issues

 

Our Northwestern Login

I Forgot my Our Northwestern Password

1. Go to our.northwestern.edu/ascendportal/s/login/
2. Click on 'Forgot your password?'
3. Enter your username (not your email alone) - note that it is the email associated with your Our Northwestern account + .ournu (Example: john.doe@gmail.com.ournu)
4. Click 'Reset Password'
5. Within a few minutes you will receive an email from "Our Northwestern" noreployon@northwestern.edu with a link to complete the password reset

I Didn't Receive my Our Northwestern Reset Password Email

If you do not receive the reset password email within a few minutes, try the following steps before submitting a support request.

1. Search your mailbox for an email from Our Northwestern or noreployon@northwestern.edu.
2. Check your Spam, Junk, or Clutter folder.
3. Confirm you entered the correct username. Your username is the email address associated with your Our Northwestern account followed by .ournu.
4. If you no longer have access to the email address, contact ONSupport@northwestern.edu

and request an update to your Our Northwestern email address.

I Forgot my Our Northwestern Username

Your Our Northwestern username is the email address associated with your account followed by .ournu. (Entering only the email address as username will not work)

1. Go to our.northwestern.edu/ascendportal/s/login/
2. Click Forgot your username?
3. Enter email address associated with your Our Northwestern account
4. Check box for I’m not a robot
5. Click Submit
6. Within a few minutes you will receive an email from "Our Northwestern" noreployon@northwestern.edu with your Our Northwestern username
7. If you do not remember the email address associated with your Our Northwestern account, contact ONSupport@northwestern.edu for assistance.

I Do Not Have Access to the Email Associated with my Username

If you no longer have access to the email address associated with your Our Northwestern account, contact ONSupport@northwestern.edu and request an update to your Our Northwestern email address.

Alumni Gmail Account

I Don't Know My Alumni Gmail Email Address

1. All alumni emails follow the format FirstnameMiddleinitialLastnameDegreeyear@alum.northwestern.edu*
2. If you do not have a middle name or middle initial in the alumni system, in that case it would be FirstNameLastNameDegreeYear@alum.northwestern.edu
3. If you have two names in your First Name field in the alumni system, in that case it would be BothFirstNamesMiddleInitialLastNameDegreeYear@alum.northwestern.edu

*If you are a Kellogg alum, your alumni email address will end with @kelloggalumni.northwestern.edu. All other degrees will get the standard alum.northwestern.edu domain.

I Don't Know my Alumni Gmail Email Account Password

Password Recovery

In most cases your preferred email address for Northwestern communications will serve as your Gmail recovery account.  You will reset your password from Gmail directly, not a Northwestern site.

On the Gmail login page, enter your Gmail alumni email address and click ‘forgot password?’ and a recover password will be sent to your recovery account email address.

Temporary Password Generated During Email Registration

If you did not write down the temporary password when registering your alumni email account in Our Northwestern, or you do not remember what password you set for your alumni email account, in most cases, your preferred email address acts as the recovery email for your alumni email account. You will be resetting your password from Gmail, not a Northwestern site. When signing into your alumni account on Gmail, enter your alumni email address and click ‘forgot password?’ and a recovery password will be sent to your preferred email address.

What is my Alumni Gmail Email Account Recovery Address?

In most cases, your preferred email address acts as the recovery email for your alumni email account. 

To find your preferred email address, go to My Account > My Information on Our Northwestern. You can also update your preferred email address on this page. Please allow 24 – 48 hours for processing changes.

Please note: changes to your preferred email address will not carry over as an update to the recovery email on file for your alumni email account. If you desire to change your recovery email address, you will have to do so within Gmail settings.

Password Recovery Issues

If you are still experiencing issues recovering your password, you can contact the Northwestern Service Desk by sending an email to ONSupport@northwestern.edu or by phone at 847-491-4357 (1-HELP).

For more information on Alumni Email Accounts, click on this link: Article - Alumni Email Accounts