The State of Virginia requires that all employees with state email addresses and state phone numbers include contact information in their email signature, which shall include, at a minimum, an office phone number and/or state cell phone number.
This requirement seeks to improve accessibility to employees, including those who work remotely. Please view your email signature as an electronic business card. It upholds an identity standard, and email signatures should follow the same conventions.
Anatomy of your Email Signature
First Name Last Name
Working Title | Department (optional)
Old Dominion University
Unit Address
Phone: 757-XXX-XXXX
Fax: 757-XXX-XXXX
Email: xxxx@odu.edu
Department Website
Social | Social | Social (optional; 3 maximum)
Formatting Guidelines
- First Name & Last Name font is Trebuchet MS, Bold, 14pt.
- Every line after First Name Last Name is Trebucket MS, 10 pt.
- Font color is black throughout
- Phone can be replaced with "Direct"
- Phone and Fax can be shortened to P: or F:
- Outgoing links (Department Website & Social) will remain underlined while the text will be black.
Questions, Social Media & Images
Quotations or statements should not be included since your signature represents the University. If social media links are included, use text links instead of images; images are commonly received as attachments in emails. In some cases, email clients do not display images.
Social media can also be introduced as:
- Follow us on: Social | Social | Social
The most active social media accounts should be listed first.
If you decide to link to your Department or University social media sites, they should adhere to the Social Media Guidelines made by University Communication.
Do not link to your personal social media accounts.
Shared Mailbox
Currently, it is not possible to set different signatures for different shared mailboxes. The signature that Outlook will use is your default email signature. If you have a shared mailbox, follow the example below with the formatting guidelines listed above.
Anatomy of your Shared Mailbox Email Signature
First Name Last Name
Working Title 1, Title 2 | Faculty or Unit | Department
Old Dominion University |Campus or Site Location
Unit Address
Phone: 757-XXX-XXXX
Fax: 757-XXX-XXXX
Email: xxxx@odu.edu
Unit Website | Department Website
Social | Social | Social (optional; 3 maximum)
Download PDF Instructions
Click to download the PDF file for ODU Email Signature guidelines.