Employee Name Guidance

Legal Names

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs uses the legal name shown on the Social Security Card for entry into our employee payroll system, HCM, in order to comply with IRS requirements that the name on the Social Security card match the name on W-4 and W-2 forms. 

For employees, legal name appears in many official university systems and records, including, but not limited to:

• Pay advice
• W-2/W-4
• Legal forms or letters

Legal Name Update Instructions:

Employees may update their legal name by showing a valid Social Security Card displaying the legal name. This card must be presented in person to Human Resources.

Preferred or Chosen Names -

As an inclusive university community, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs recognizes that employees may wish to be identified by a name other than their legal name.

Employees may designate a preferred first name, which is different from a legal name, with the university.  A preferred name may be a nickname, middle name, professional name, anglicized name or name more closely associated with an employee's gender identity. The preferred name may be entered by the employee into the employee portal.

Where technically and legally feasible, preferred names are displayed in lieu of legal names in university systems and records and are used to identify employees. Legal name may be required for official documented business needs (legal documents, tax forms, pay advice). Systems that rely on data stored in enterprise systems should be updated regularly to reflect the most current name information. It may take up to 48 hours for a preferred name entered in the portal to display in other university systems.

For those employees who may have records in both HCM (employee payroll system) and Campus Solutions (student information system), if there is a mismatch between the preferred name entered in these two systems, the default will be the name that is entered in Campus Solutions.

For employees, preferred names currently appear in the following university systems and records. This list is not exhaustive and preferred name may display in other systems.

• Active Directory
• Exchange/Office 365 (Email)
• Faculty/Staff Email list
• Event Management & Scheduling
• Cherwell (ticketing system)
• Faculty/Staff Email List
• Library
• Canvas
• Mountain Lion Connect
• Parking System
• PawPrints
• Phone Directory - This is a manual process by OIT. Please submit a ticket to helpdesk@uccs.edu if preferred name is not displaying.
• RAVE alert system
• Rec Center
• Adobe campus licenses
• Campus Solutions/CU-SIS - This is not automatically updated if a user updates their preferred name in the myUCCS Portal (HCM).  To update your faculty or staff preferred name in Campus Solutions, please complete the Personal Information Update Request.

Those employees who worked with UCCS IT to manually override their first name in some campus systems should log into the My UCCS Portal and update their preferred first name as soon as possible to ensure the name continues to display correctly. If you enter a preferred name in the portal and your name does not display as expected, please send an email to helpdesk@uccs.edu for assistance. It may take up to 48 hours for a preferred name entered in the portal to display in other university systems.

Preferred Name Update Instructions:

1. Go to the My UCCS Portal
2. From the CU Resource drop-down menu, select My Info and Pay.
3. Click the My Info tile.
4. Click on your name along the left-hand side. A pop-up window will populate.
5. Enter the preferred name at Preferred First Name.
6. Select Save.