UNMC faculty, staff and students can now begin to self-select the way they want to be addressed while on campus.
Following more than a year of discussion, review and implementation, the University of Nebraska system has launched 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 — including UNMC — to select their chosen name, gender identity and pronouns.
Steering commitee
Drs. Davies and Strong acknowledged the work of the following individuals, who served on UNMC's Non-Bindary Gender Values Steering Committee:
- Jean Amoura, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology
- Emily McElroy, dean, McGoogan Health Sciences Library
- Matt Schill, director, office of the university registrar
- Aileen Warren, associate vice chancellor for human resources
"We are very grateful for all those who came together to focus on the recommendations in the Executive Memorandum," said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD. "We are committed to having a welcoming and inclusive environment."
Dele Davies, MD, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, agreed. "This is an important step in creating a mutually respective and more inclusive environment for everyone. This policy provides support for individuals within our campus community to begin to identify with their chosen name, pronouns and gender identity."
Said Sheritta Strong, MD, assistant vice chancellor of inclusion: "Our commitment to inclusion is stronger when we create a culture that asks or provides pronouns and chosen names, which reduces the risk of disrespect or embarrassment for all individuals. We will continue to work to align our processes across med center systems, but this is an important step."
The option is available now to students via MyRecords and to faculty and staff in Firefly.
Information Technology teams continue work to align chosen names within UNMC and Nebraska Medicine specific systems (ie: Canvas, Zoom, Office 365, directories, Outlook), which will occur at a later date.
Within Zoom, users may manually add pronouns now by editing their Zoom "display name."
If you need assistance, contact Human Resources or the Office of Inclusion at inclusion@unmc.edu.
Resources:
- Gender identity at NU (How-To Video)
- Students may view the Division of Student Success site on how to update their personal information
- Executive Memorandum 40
- Gender values: Identity questions and definitions/terminology
- NU training videos, values and policies
- View NU’s FAQ
- Gender and Sexuality Resource Center