Student Affairs
The Chosen Name Process is Open
Hello, Faculty!

Teams across the college (including IT, LGBT eQuity and Student Affairs) have been working diligently this summer to develop an automatic chosen name process ready for the beginning of school. We were hoping to have this process ready for all of our systems which display student names -- from email to Blackboard to class rosters. However, at this time the chosen name process is still under construction. Rather than holding up the process, we have chosen to roll this out in a phased approach.

Starting August 27, a student may submit a chosen name request. Once approved, their chosen name will populate in Blackboard, the Self Service User Profile, Colleague BIO Screen, and Online Services Class Roster.
Phase I: How does this work and where will it display?
  • Chosen Names will only populate if a student requests one and it is approved in the brief review period through Admission & Records. (This is solely to deny requests for chosen names that are offensive, derogatory, or involve repeated requests)
  • See example of how the chosen name will display in the BIO screen in Colleague.
  • The Chosen Name will be in the First Name position in Blackboard and faculty will not see an alias. It will also appear on the Online Services Faculty Roster. See an example of what this looks like, here. The student's chosen name will display in parenthesis.
Phase II: What will happen next?
While the chosen name option is currently available in limited areas, our goal during the fall 2020 semester is to expand the number of places a student can see their Chosen Name. Areas currently being worked on and explored are:

  • ACCmail*
  • ID Cards
  • Accudemia

*While the chosen name is not fully available in ACCmail yet, you can change your email "nickname" to reflect your chosen name in between your legal first and last name. Learn more about changing your ACCmail nickname here.

Next steps also include Human Resources rolling out this process for ACC employees.
We understand that you may have questions regarding the Chosen Name process. For this reason, we have created a webpage to answer any questions you may have. We want all of our students to feel both comfortable and safe while attending Austin Community College.

During this time, if you have any questions, I encourage you to reach out to the Admissions & Records office.

Many thanks for all you do,

Melissa R. Curtis, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President, Enrollment Management
Austin Community College | Student Affairs | austincc.edu