Faculty & Staff
At Grand Valley State University, we recognize that an individual may wish to be identified by a professional, personal, preferred, display or use name without making an official legal name change. Faculty and staff may use the myName process (called "Preferred Name" in Workday) to update their name in Workday and some related systems. The myName process will allow faculty and staff to have their chosen name appear anywhere a legal name is not required.
HOW DO I REQUEST A myNAME?
To request a myName, follow the Update Preferred Name on Workday Profile job aid.
myNAME REVIEW PROCESS
- Applications are reviewed by professional staff in Registrar’s Office
- Review is oriented towards appropriateness not censorship
- myName Watch List
- Automatically flagged: profanity, common names at University, etc.
- Automatically processed: standard list of nicknames
NEXT STEPS
- GVSU ID: To obtain a new GVSU ID card using myName, faculty and staff may visit the Registrar’s Office, located at 150 Student Services on the Allendale Campus and 115C DeVos on the Pew Campus. Note that it may take up to two business days for your myName information to be available in the GVSU ID card system.
- Email Display Name: You must submit an online request. Your email display name is reflected by a first and last name you choose versus the actual email/network account ID. Your email display name will not change if you do not request a change.
- Zoom: Instructions to set your Zoom name to reflect your myName.
Please review the full list of systems that require manual updating on the What To Expect page.
The University reserves the right to remove or deny a myName request if used inappropriately. This includes, but is not limited to, names using foul or inappropriate language or names submitted to avoid a legal obligation or to create misrepresentation
Legal Name Changes
Once you have completed a legal name change, you will want to share this information so that we can update systems accordingly. Please refer to the University’s Name Change process, which deals with official/legal name changes via the Social Security Administration.
Please work with your department administrator and/or HR Business Partner. You will need to submit proof of name change (typically a social security card bearing your new legal name) and then your HR Business Partner will perform the necessary actions to update your legal name in HR/payroll, which will then pass it along to other downstream systems. Learn more about faculty/staff name changes.
Updating Zoom with Pronunciation & Pronouns
You can now add your pronouns to your profile in Zoom. When you add pronouns to your profile, they are visible to your Zoom contacts as part of your Zoom profile card in the Zoom desktop client and mobile app. You can also choose when or if your pronouns are shown during a meeting that you host or join, or webinar that you are the host or panelist for. Webinar attendees’ pronouns are never visible. Learn how to add and share your pronouns in Zoom.
FOR SUPPORT & QUESTIONS
Direct questions about myName as well as the legal name change process should be directed to one of the following: