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Change of Address

All students must have a permanent (home) address and phone number in Workday. For international students on F-1 visas, the permanent address must be in their country of residence outside the United States.

All students except those living in a RISD residence hall must also submit in Workday a local address.

All students who move must update their address in Workday within 10 days. International students on the F-1 Visa must additionally report any change of address or phone number in the Terra Dotta Student Portal with International Student & Scholar Affairs (ISSA) within 10 days. Failure to do so is a violation of your F-1 immigration status.

In Workday, students may also set an emergency contact along with their address, phone and email. Students living on campus may be requested by Residence Life to provide additional emergency contact information.

Chosen Name

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is committed to a genuine inclusion of all. RISD recognizes that any member of our community may choose a name to identify themselves that differs from their legal name. RISD's Chosen Name Policy strives to accommodate this self-identification.

The use of a chosen first name will be recognized and applied across as many RISD systems as possible, wherever legal name is not required by law and as long as it is not used for the purposes of misrepresentation or fraud. Your chosen name appears on the Workday student profile, class roster and grading roster, as well as in the My RISD student directory. Your chosen name also appears in systems you may have given parents/guardians access to e.g., Workday, RISD Bucks, etc.

A community member may want to utilize the Chosen Name Policy for the following reasons:

  • A middle name instead of first name

  • An abbreviated name (Rob instead of Robert, Lizzie instead of Elizabeth)

  • An Anglicized name (Wendy instead of Haiyan)

  • A name that better represents your gender identity

The Chosen Name Policy applies only to first name. Students may update their Preferred Name in their Workday profile. Setting their chosen first name does not require documentation or approval.

Legal Name

For legal first name and/or last name changes, refer to Workday to update your legal name; supporting documentation is required for legal name changes. For F-1 or J-1 visa status, the first and last legal name must be used on all immigration documents including, but not limited to I-20s and DS-2019s. After a student graduates or separates from RISD, the student’s academic file is closed. College records are historical documents and are not altered retrospectively.

Name changes are applied from the time the change is made forward. Please visit the Registrar's Office website for guidance on ordering a new diploma.

For Alumni, please contact alumni@risd.edu to update your name. If appropriate, contact the Registrar's Office to reflect the name change on the official transcript.