Due to budgetary constraints, the contract with Namecoach will not be renewed this year and the integrations with Canvas and APLUS will be decommissioned in May 2026. Academic Support Resources (ASR) has been the contract holder for Namecoach since it was implemented at the University in 2019, but ASR is no longer able to cover the costs of the contract.
Namecoach has been a valuable addition to the University. It helps foster a welcoming environment by allowing instructors and advisors to correctly pronounce students’ names. It is definitely a loss to remove this tool from our offerings, especially given that there is not a replacement readily available.
We are still looking at ways to make name pronunciations available within the University community. For example, while the integration with Canvas and APLUS will go away, Namecoach offers the Personal Namebadge as a complimentary service. Individuals can continue to create and share name recordings this way. We are also investigating how name pronunciation fields in existing systems might be used. ASR has been in contact with commencement coordinators on their options for name pronunciation at commencement ceremonies.
We believe that Namecoach has benefited students, advisors, instructors, and others. The decision to end the contract and decommission the integrations with Canvas and APLUS was based solely on the expense of the contract that can no longer be sustained by ASR’s budget.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Julie Selander ([email protected]), the University’s vendor contact with Namecoach.