Pronouns
Personal pronouns are used to refer to a person when you are talking about them in the third person. Much like our names, pronouns are tied to our sense of identity. Pronouns indicate how the outside world should recognize and address us. Being referred to with the wrong pronouns can be detrimental to one's sense of well-being, especially for those who are transgender and gender-nonconforming. To foster a culture of respect where everyone's pronouns are honored, Ohio State offers the option to display one's pronouns across a variety of websites and internal systems.
Providing Your Pronouns
To display your pronouns across a variety of Ohio State online systems, students, staff, and faculty can indicate their pronouns through my.osu.edu and the Ohio State app.
Student-identified pronouns appear in class and advising rosters and student information system screens, which are visible to advisors, instructors and staff. Employee-identified pronouns may appear in employment documents. The purpose of selecting your personal pronouns is to notify faculty and staff of your preferences when engaging in conversations.
my.osu.edu
To update your pronouns and other personal information on my.osu.edu:
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Log on to my.osu.edu
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Locate the navigation bar on the left side of the page. Click My OSU Identity Information
- Locate the section labeled Pronouns, and select your pronouns from the drop-down list
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Click Submit
Ohio State App
To update your pronouns and other personal information on the Ohio State app:
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On the For You tab, scroll down until you reach the section Manage Your OSU Identity.
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Select Change Pronouns
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Select your pronouns from the list
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Click Submit
Pronouns to Sync Across Carmen and Zoom
Beginning Spring 2024, students, staff and faculty may notice a change in their displayed pronouns in CarmenCanvas and CarmenZoom. These two tools will begin pulling pronoun information from my.osu.edu the Ohio State app, Workday, and Buckeye Link. Any pronouns that had been designated natively in Carmen will be removed, while those entered in Zoom will remain if you have not selected pronouns in a major university system. A change made in any of these locations will sync across a growing number of university systems.
This change is part of a larger effort across Ohio State to improve data synchronization across university systems and provide more consistency for students, faculty and staff.
Additional Methods of Providing Pronouns
CarmenZoom
You can add pronouns to your display name and make them visible across all your meetings, if desired. To set up your pronouns, log in at carmenzoom.osu.edu and navigate to your profile. Select the Edit button near your name and enter your pronouns in the appropriate field. You can also select when to display your pronouns (always, never, ask when joining a meeting, etc.). Pronouns will appear next to your display name during a Zoom meeting if you select to show them. (Note: In order to use this feature, you must be using Zoom version 5.7.0 or newer, and you must be logged in to your CarmenZoom account.)
Workday
Ohio State employees can set their preferred pronouns on Workday under Personal Information. To set your pronouns, first go to your Profile, which can be accessed by clicking the cloud icon at the top right of the Workday home page and selecting “View Profile”. In your Profile, there is a sidebar menu, click “Personal” (note: you may have to click “More” before you can see the “Personal” option). Under “Personal Information”, click the “Edit” button, and you can select or change your pronouns.
Email Signature and Business Cards
Ohio State encourages students, faculty, and staff to include their pronouns on their university email signature and business cards. A template is available to build your personal signature using the official university format.
Resources
MyPronouns.org is a practical resource dedicated to the empowering and inclusive use of personal pronouns in the English language. This website will help you understand why and how to use the pronouns someone goes by.