Primary-Affirmed Name
In the spirit of supporting our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion across our people, campuses and disciplines, the primary-affirmed name initiative works to establish a safe and secure environment for individuals within the university community to self declare the name by which they want to be identified, known as their primary-affirmed name.
What's in a name
A person’s primary-affirmed name is inclusive of their first, middle and last name. When individuals submit their application for academic admission, research or employment purposes at the U of A, they are asked to provide their legal name. With the introduction of this initiative, faculty, staff and students can self-declare by the name which they wish to be recognized in university systems.
Individuals will be able to update their primary-affirmed name in the primary name field in Bear Tracks. The primary-affirmed name will appear in most instances across the university, including Bear Tracks (underpinned by our core system, PeopleSoft), OneCard, Library Services and class lists.
The primary-affirmed name functionality will empower every member of the university community to equally enjoy what many may take for granted — the simple use of their name.
An important step forward
In support of our strategic priorities related to EDI and Shape: A Strategic Plan of Impact, 2023-2033, this initiative is a great step forward in the university taking action that meaningfully centres respect, dignity, safety, equity and care. It is a prime example of how the university can truly live out its values and commitments made to students, faculty and staff by coming together across different portfolios to remove barriers and find solutions. Overall, this collaborative action will have a major impact on ensuring all members of the community are included and receive the respect and care they deserve.
While systems, processes, and reports downstream of the primary-affirmed name fields may not be able to parse Indigenous syllabics and other multi-language characters at this time, we will continue to review this functionality with a view to further enhancing system capability, such as the addition of multi-language characters, phonetic spelling and pronouns.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can update your name information by following these steps:
- Log into Bear Tracks using your CCID
- Select the Profile tile
- Select Personal Details
- Follow the steps to update your name
- Be sure to select Confirm to save your changes
More on changes to personal information for:
Please wait 24 to 48 hours for your primary-affirmed name to be reflected in the university systems and records. If the change has still not occurred after this timeframe, contact the Staff Service Center through the Service Portal (Submit General Inquiry) or by calling 780-492-8000.
Information on how to update your Campus Computing ID (CCID) to reflect your primary-affirmed name can be found on the CCID & Passwords web page or through this article.
Name fields in Bear Tracks can accommodate up to 30 characters per each name field.
Primary-affirmed name is the first, middle and last name by which you wish to be recognized as a member of the U of A community. It will be visible across university records and systems (such as OneCard, Google, eClass and more).
A preferred name is a shortened version of your primary-affirmed first, middle and last names by which you choose to identify yourself. For example, your primary-affirmed name might be Calliope and your preferred name is Cal or Callie.
If you change your primary affirmed name, to be different from your legal name, be sure to verify that your primary-affirmed and preferred names reflect the intended name changes.
Please be aware that while the university will make every effort to refer to you by your primary-affirmed and/or preferred name across university records and systems, unless you have gone through a legal name change process, we will need to use your legal name in several instances due to federal or provincial statute or regulation requirements (or as otherwise required by law) or where a legal name is required by a third party organization.
Some of the instances that you might continue to see your legal name will be:
- Documents related to your financial support, admissions and enrolments
- Documents related to your insurance administration and pension
- Payroll services related documentation (e.g., tax forms)
- Transcripts and parchment
To make changes to your legal name you are required to complete a Name Change Form and submit the supporting documentation.
This first phase of this project enables people to update their primary-affirmed first, middle, and last name in Bear Tracks. As we move forward, we will explore other potential enhancements, such as the ability to incorporate pronouns, multi-language characters, phonetic spelling and pronunciation, gender markers, honorifics, and disability and accommodation status.
Note: The implementation of these future enhancements is dependent on the capabilities of each university business application.
No, not at this time. We will continue to review how best to incorporate these while keeping in mind the downstream effects on systems, forms, processes and reports, with a view to further enhancing Bear Tracks capability, such as the addition of multi-language characters, phonetic spelling and pronouns.
If you have any questions or comments about the primary-affirmed name and other EDI related questions and training, please contact equity@ualberta.ca.
Technical support, resources and training materials
Below is a list of additional support links and resources.