Short-Term Work Group on Name and Pronoun Usage

July 6, 2021

The Short-Term Work Group on Name and Pronoun Usage will focus on immediate actions to better and consistently capture and utilize names and pronouns in existing university systems and various processes. The purpose is to acknowledge and support how students, staff and faculty at Michigan State University choose to identify. 

The work group will make recommendations for future policy considerations that protect individual privacy and promote best practices in the collection and use of this information. 

The work aligns with and will inform the university’s ongoing and longer-term diversity, equity and inclusion strategic framing and planning processes.  

Charge 

To explore how names and pronouns can be captured and utilized consistently across various university systems and processes.    

Objectives 

  1. To identify and potentially connect systems that capture names and pronouns; 
  2. To provide options within each system to input and access self-reported data, e.g., honorifics, gender identity, sexual identity/orientation, pronouns; and 
  3. To explore the creation of university policies and communication which support the consistent use of names and pronouns in written and oral communication. 

Executive Sponsors 

Melissa Woo (she/her), Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief Information Officer 

Jabbar R. Bennett (he/him), Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer 

Chairs 

Elisa Landaverde, Librarian in Special Collections at the Main Library 

Stacia Moroski-Rigney, Assistant Professor and Affiliated Graduate Faculty in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures in the College of Arts and Letters 

Kris Renn, Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies for Student Success Research in the College of Education 

Members 

  • Bob Thomas, Executive Director, Marketing and Communications, Advancement 
  • Melissa Del Rio, Chief of Staff, Graduate School 
  • Kristen Renn, Professor, Department of Educational Administration; Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies for Student Success Research, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
  • Clay Griffith, Member, Associated Students of Michigan State University and Alliance
  • Meagan Abel, Executive Board Member, Council of Graduate Students 
  • Valentine McWilliams, Member, TransAction, Council of Racial and Ethnic Students and Council of Progressive Students 
  • William Horton-Anderson, Member, Employee Pride and Inclusion Coalition; Assistant Director, Academic and Student Affairs 
  • Patrick Arnold, Member, Employee Pride and Inclusion Coalition; Undergrad/Grad Advisor, Center for Gender in Global Context 
  • Elisa Landaverde, Member, Employee Pride and Inclusion Coalition; Special Collections LGBTQ+ Librarian, MSU Libraries 
  • Donna Donovan, Chief of Staff, Human Resources 
  • Scott TerMeer, Assistant Director, Information Technology 
  • Tina Alonzo, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Administrator, Infrastructure Planning and Facilities 
  • Jesse Beal, Director, The Gender and Sexuality Campus Center 
  • Nick Royal Sr., Senior Civil Rights Investigator, Office of Institutional Equity 
  • Kristine Moore, Associate General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel 
  • Steve Shablin, Registrar, Office of the Registrar 
  • Bethan Cantwell, Director, Institutional Research 
  • Melissa Sortman, Director, Academic Human Resources 

Advisory Resource  

The Gender and Sexuality Campus Center  

Timeframe

April – July 2021

The working group will be presenting findings and future policy recommendations to Bennett and Woo in July 2021.