Official Name Changes for Academic Colleges/Units and Support Units

Please see the information below to request an official change to the name of an academic or support unit, including Vice Presidents (VPs), Major Administrative Units (MAUs), departments/units, and official University centers and institutes. The University’s Organization of Interest (OOI) application is the official system of record for organizations and will migrate organizational changes through controlled interfaces to University systems including, but not limited to the finance system, Kuali Financial System (KFS), the HR/payroll system SAP, and legacy systems including the Student Information System (SIS) and the Common Unit Code/D03 system. The Office of Planning and Budgets (OPB) is the business owner of the OOI system.

Note: Before requesting a name change, both Non-Academic and Award Granting units should first review the University’s relevant policies and bylaws:

Board of Trustees Bylaws, Article 6, University Organization:
https://trustees.msu.edu/bylaws/#article6

Approval for certain types of name changes must be obtained from the appropriate executive manager for changes to be made for the following levels: VPs, MAUs/colleges, and departments/units. Please see the following information for details on types of name changes and the appropriate approval(s) required for your type of unit.

Contact Information
To contact staff in OPB responsible for making changes in OOI, please email orgchng@msu.edu

Types of name changes
• Editorial Name Change: a change that is made for the purposes of editorial clarification of the unit’s name. This does not reflect an actual or perceived change in purpose or scope.
• Content Name Change: a change that has the ability to potentially alter, or reflect the altering of, the substance and scope of the work of the unit.

Approval Process for Editorial Name Changes
• Non-Academic Unit: The Dean/Unit Head from the requesting organization must first approve the request at which point, staff should e-mail OPB to request the change, which should include proof of approval from the Dean/Unit head. The request will be presented to the Director of OPB for approval. Once approved, the change will be made in the OOI system.
• Award Granting College/Unit/University Undergraduate Division (UUD): The Dean/Unit Head from the requesting organization must first approve the request at which point, staff should e-mail the OPB to request the change, which should include proof of approval from the Dean/Unit head. The request will then be presented to the Director of OPB for approval and then to the appropriate Executive Vice President. If approved, the change will be made in the OOI system.

Approval Process for Content Name Changes:
• Non-Academic Units: The Dean/Unit Head from the requesting organization must first approve the request at which point, staff should e-mail the OPB to request the change, which should include proof of approval from the Dean/Unit head. The request will then be presented to the Director of OPB for approval and then to the appropriate Executive Vice President. If approved, the change will be made in the OOI system.
• Award Granting College/Unit/University Undergraduate Division (UUD): The requesting organization must first contact the appropriate executive, and follow the Academic Governance process, which may include required approval by the President, for direction on changing the name of an academic unit. Please see Appendix A for more information.

Once approval has been obtained through the proper process, the Dean/Unit Head of the requesting organization should contact OPB, and include proof of approval(s) (an e-mail from the proper executive or an attachment in an e-mail is acceptable form of approval). At this point, the information will be presented to the Director of OPB and the change will be made in the OOI system.

Notification of the Change in OOI
After the change is made in OOI, the requesting unit, as well as additional interested parties, will be notified that the change is complete.

Additional Impacts to Consider
When requesting a name change, please keep in mind how the change may affect unit signage, logos, and letterhead. Please remember to update the following:

• website addresses
• business cards
• email addresses
• related committee names
• faculty/staff/retiree address system online
• auto-signature lines in email for all employees
• account number/name changes
• voicemail
• recruitment materials
• unit-level academic program materials
• unit website