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Pronoun, Name Pronunciation Options Available on ELMS-Canvas

By Maryland Today Staff

Members of the campus community now have the option to include pronouns and name pronunciation in the university’s digital portal for turning in assignments, completing quizzes and communicating with instructors.

This effort grew from a proposal to the University Senate back in 2014 and is the result of years of work from LGBT Equity Center staff, who partnered with the Division of Information Technology on implementation, said Shige Sakurai, the center’s director of leadership initiatives.

“This change has been a labor of love,” Sakurai said, “and it’s just one more step toward creating a more empowering campus environment for all students, faculty and staff.”

Users of ELMS-Canvas just sign in on elms.umd.edu, then take the following steps from the menu: Account -> Settings -> Edit Settings -> Pronouns. Name pronunciation can be added via: Account -> Namecoach.

The LGBT Equity Center has also created information resources for the campus community, including an explainer about pronouns as well as in-depth information about updating names, pronouns or gender markers in campus systems.

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