Online Campus Directory and Contact Searching

I. Overview

  • Security Update: To improve university cybersecurity and protect employee information from automated web scraping, phishing, and spam harvesting, the public-facing directory (www.uah.edu/directory) site will be changed on June 23, 2026.
  • New Method: Active UAH faculty, staff, and students will use Google Contacts to securely find contact details for faculty and staff, so that logging in is required.
  • Website Change: On the go-live date, visiting the legacy www.uah.edu/directory link will automatically redirect users directly to the authenticated Google Contacts directory interface.

II. How to Search the UAH Directory via Google Contacts

  1. Personal vs. Global Conflation: If you simply open Google Contacts and type a name into the search box, Google will only search your personal contact list (people you have previously emailed) by default. To search the entire university, explicitly search the global directory.
  2. Step-by-Step Access:
    1. Navigate directly to the authenticated UAH Directory page: contacts.google.com/directory
    2. (Alternative Method) Open your UAH Gmail, click the Google Apps "Waffle" icon (the nine dots in the top right corner), select Contacts, and then click the Directory tab on the left-hand menu.
    3. Use the search bar at the top of the screen to search for colleagues.
  • Advanced Searching (by department, title, or building): You can filter results by typing specific organizational keywords directly into the search bar. For example, typing "OIT", "Accounting", or "Shelbie King" will instantly surface all directory entries associated with those departments, job titles, or office locations.

III. Finding General Departmental Information

  1. Functional Group Searches: Google Contacts searches for individual names rather than entire departmental office structures.
  2. Using Departmental Web Pages: If you do not know a specific person's name and just need to find someone in an office (e.g., Financial Aid, Admissions, Registrar, Facilities):
    1. Go to the main university website and navigate to that specific department's webpage (e.g., uah.edu/registrar).
    2. Look for the "Contact Us," "About," or "Staff" tabs in their menu.
    3. Departments maintain their own page which usually includes a physical campus location, phone number, and email address.

Regarding the Main Campus Line

In tandem with these directory security updates, UAH has transitioned the main campus line (256.824.1000) to an automated voice assistant powered by natural language processing.

Automating these standard external routing requests allows OIT to strategically reallocate resources—freeing up our technical staff from manual switchboard routing so they can focus entirely on technical work and direct campus support. This optimization enables our local Help Desk team to handle daytime OIT support calls directly in-house (rather than using a third-party company), significantly improving IT support services for the UAH community.

Still Need Help?

If you have additional questions about this topic, please contact the OIT Help Desk.

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