*Áñ—†ÊÓƵ

In 2018, the University established the Gender Queer, Non-Binary and Trans (GQNBT) Task Force, co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, Student Affairs and Human Resources. The task force was charged with assessing the current landscape at Áñ—†ÊÓƵ to identify gaps in policies and resources, and to recommend gender-inclusive strategies to facilitate a more accessible, safer and welcoming campus environment for gender expansive students, faculty and staff at Áñ—†ÊÓƵ.

Providing the ability for all students, faculty and staff within the University community to enter their display name and pronouns in Áñ—†ÊÓƵ's Identity Management system () - which will then share that information with a number of other Áñ—†ÊÓƵ systems - makes significant headway toward the task force's goal of creating a centralized location for managing one's identity data.

• For technology-related issues, contact the Áñ—†ÊÓƵ IT Service Desk at consultant@northwestern.edu or 847-491-4357 (1-HELP).
• For general questions about the System Updates project, email diversity@northwestern.edu.
• For best practice resources, explore the resources at the bottom of our System Updates for Names and Pronounspage.
• For more specific assistance, you can contact any of the members of the project task force:
  • Jaci Casazza (Office of the Registrar) - jcasazza@northwestern.edu
  • Julie Phelan (Human Resources) - j-phelan@northwestern.edu
  • Michelle Manno (Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion) - assoc-prov-diversity@northwestern.edu
  • Sarah Brown (Women's Center) - brown@northwestern.edu
  • Leona Quist (Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion) - leona.quist@northwestern.edu

• Phone: 847-491-4357 (1-HELP)
• Email: consultant@northwestern.edu

• Legal name is typically your name given at birth and recorded on your birth certificate or the name used to identify you for legal, administrative or official purposes.
• Display name is your name as you would like it to appear in university systems (if different from your legal name). Members of the Áñ—†ÊÓƵ community are encouraged to use display name during interactions with each other. In some Áñ—†ÊÓƵ systems, display name is currently referred to as "preferred" name.
• Professional name is your name as you would like to use it for professional purposes (e.g., publishing). Many staff already use the professional name field. The display name field will now replace the professional name field.

Because all hiring and payments* in myHR must take place using legal name, due to benefits processing and federal and state tax reporting, your legal name will remain viewable in myHR to authorized school and unit payroll staff, as well as to central Human Resources staff.

Although the legal name field will remain available, your display name is now the default name appearing on the majority of myHR pages. Staff with myHR access should use display name for all interactions with community members.

*Payments processed via myHR include staff and faculty pay; graduate student and undergraduate scholarships; and student, work-study and non-student temporary worker wages.

1. Log into with your NetID.
2. Click "Edit Online Directory Information."
3. Enter your information into the Name fields (your display name or your legal/primary name), then "Submit."

• For information on .
• For information on .
• For information on .

• For CAESAR: To those of you querying this data, you will continue to retrieve student display/preferred names from CAESAR as you always Áñ—†ÊÓƵ, they'll just be populated in a new way. Pronouns will appear in two views, NW_PERSDATA_VW (with which you're likely very familiar) and a new one, NW_PRONOUN_VW. NW_PERSDATA_VW will also be updated with preferred/display name.
• Information For myHR will be here shortly - check back for updates! 
• Web Service API: Apigee under Identity, "Display Name & Pronouns"
  
  

Please refer to the employee using the name and pronouns with which they Áñ—†ÊÓƵ introduced themselves. Submit hiring documents, however, using (only) legal name. Only after hiring can the employee log into and set up their display name, which will flow to downstream systems (such as email and myHR) within a few days.

Because their initial email address will by default use their legal name, after being hired an employee may wish to create a new email that reflects their display name. As with display name, this email alias is created using

Please also see the FAQ "I was admitted or hired using my legal name. How do I get my display name into my Microsoft 365 and/or G Suite accounts?"