KEARNEY – University of Nebraska at Kearney students, faculty and staff can now self-select the way they want to be addressed on campus.
As part of its ongoing commitment to supporting a more inclusive and welcoming work and learning environment, the University of Nebraska system recently implemented a Chosen Name and Gender Identity Policy. Also known as Executive Memorandum No. 40, the policy allows students, faculty and staff at all NU campuses to select their chosen name, gender identity and pronouns.
Students can update this information in MyBlue and it will automatically feed to other systems, such as Canvas and Zoom. Faculty and staff should use the Firefly employee dashboard to update their information. The Chosen Name and Gender Identity @ UNK website includes additional instructions and information. Faculty and staff instructions are available here.
Chosen names will appear on class rosters, Canvas, Zoom, the campus directory and email system, university ID cards and honors and awards such as the dean’s list, as well as other university systems where a legal name is not required.
Pronouns are immediately available in Canvas and users can control if and how they’re displayed in Zoom.
Because this policy is relatively new, it will take some time to fully implement all of the changes.
Per federal regulations and NU Board of Regents policies, legal sex, gender identity and pronouns are not public directory information for students, faculty or staff. This information will not be disclosed to individuals outside the university system.
Students should note that parents and/or guardians with log-in credentials may be able to access the information. Legal sex, gender identity, pronouns and chosen name will not be available if guest access is granted to student account information.
The Gender and Sexuality Resource Office and Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion are both available for UNK students and employees who want to learn more about diverse cultures and identities.
