Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy
At UCSF, we strive to cultivate a culture of belonging, an environment free of discrimination and harassment in which all members of our community — including transgender and nonbinary people — can thrive. We are implementing the UC Presidential Policy on Gender Recognition and Lived Name (GRLN) to ensure that all employees, learners, patients, and affiliates are identified by their accurate gender identity and lived names. We encourage all UCSF members to live our PRIDE Values by helping to make our campus a place where everyone's gender identity is affirmed and lived names are used, recognized, and respected.
Policy Requirements
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At least three equally recognized gender options in university information systems — woman, man and nonbinary.
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Any individual entering into an academic or professional relationship with the UC may be permitted to indicate a lived name to be used in the UC system in all settings and situations that do not require a person's legal name.
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An efficient process for current students, faculty and staff, and for UC alumni and affiliates, to retroactively amend their gender designations.
Managing Your Name & Data
This section is for members of the USCF community who wish to have a lived name used in university systems for display and/or used by university staff. With the implementation of the GRLN policy, your lived name should be displayed and used across all university systems and documents unless a legal name is required. Please note that UCSF is in the process of implementing the GRLN policy and not all systems have reached full compliance.
Names are collected and updated in several main systems that flow to campus systems. Please see below for instructions on updating your name in these systems to the name you wish to be used and displayed when interacting with others on campus.
Please review all steps below. Some people may need to complete more than one of the steps below to update a lived name across all systems they are in.
I am a...
Students: update your name via the student portal managed by the Office of the Registrar. More information about name changes with the Office of the Registrar can be found here.
Current employee (Faculty or Staff)
- Log into UCPath Online
- Select Employee Actions > Personal Information > Personal Information Summary
- In the Legal Name/Name section, select the arrow to expand the box
- Select your name to edit
- Click on the Edit Legal Name/Name grey button to edit
- Enter your information and click Ok
- Click Submit
UCSF Affiliates (Vendors, Guests, Contractors, Volunteers, etc.)
Update your lived name via the UCSF Directory managed by the UCSF Identity Access Management team.
- Go to https://directory.ucsf.edu/
- Click on the Edit My Record on the upper right corner
- In your profile, update your Lived Name and click Save Changes
Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland Affiliates
Update your name via the Change of Employee Information form managed by BCH Oakland HR. You can email BCHOAKHumanResources@ucsf.edu for questions about the lived name change request.
- Reach out to your supervisor and inform them of your concern.
- Assess areas where gender and legal names are currently being used.
- Determine what steps might need to be implemented to ensure a non-binary gender option is available and that lived name is used instead of legal name. This might entail updating systems, reformatting reports, including a non-binary option in surveys and assessments, and/or require training for frontline staff to ensure appropriate implementation of inclusive policies and customer service practices.
- If you need support on how to interpret and implement the policy, reach out to the GRLN implementation team at grln@ucsf.edu for a consultation.
How can I be respectful in the use of personal pronouns?
- It is important to understand and use personal pronouns appropriately. The binary pronouns ‘he/him’ and ‘she/her’ do not apply to all people, and with the Gender Recognition Act, the state of California now recognizes non-binary as a third gender option. Non-binary individuals may use non-binary pronouns such as ‘they/them,’ or multiple pronouns such as ‘she/they’ or ‘he/they.’ Making assumptions about a person’s gender identity may lead to using incorrect pronouns and/or otherwise make an individual feel that they do not belong by questioning their lived or legal identity. It is therefore important to avoid making assumptions about a person’s gender by asking for, paying attention to, and respecting one another’s personal pronouns
- Resources:
What is the difference between a lived name, preferred name, and nickname?
Lived names are specifically a name that a person chooses, that they are consciously choosing, as how they want to be referred to. University policy requires staff, faculty, and students to respect and use one another’s lived names, and in most cases prohibits the disclosure of legal name (if different). Failure to use lived name, and/or inappropriate disclosure or use of legal name may constitute non-compliance with University privacy, personnel, academic, and student policies, and result in corrective action. There are many reasons why someone may use a lived name, including, but not limited to: their lived name better reflects their gender identity, their lived name reflects a cultural, religious, or familial preference or practice, or they want to distinguish themselves from someone with a similar name. Preferred names and nicknames can be shortened, alternate or variations of legal names. The use of nick names, or any other type of name beyond legal and lived name, is not part of the GRLN policy. In general, the difference is that a person’s lived name is the name they are choosing to go by.
Who should I contact if I’m having issues with updating my lived name?
If you’re having issues with updating your lived name, submit a ticket to IT.
Please review all steps below. Some people may need to complete more than one of the steps below to update gender identity and sexual orientation across all systems they are in.
- Students: update your gender identity and sexual orientation with the Office of the Registrar.
- Employees:
- Log into UCPath Online
- Select Employee Actions > Personal Information > Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation
- Select your gender identity and sexual orientation and click "Save"
Training Module
Training and education play a critical role in supporting GRLN's overall implementation, and we look forward to creating additional resources and tools soon.
To help build awareness and understanding of gender diversity, UCSF offers an online training module to introduce faculty, staff and learners to terms and concepts related to gender and nonbinary identities, as well as best practices for name, pronoun, and title usage. (Note: MyAccess login required.)
