When departments are renamed references need to be updated across the mst.edu domain. These changes can include:

• Site name in header
• Subdomain name
• Campus directory
• Faculty and Staff or Current Students pages
• Social media profiles
• References to original department name in links on other subdomains

We will make as many of these changes as needed on a date you specify; however, links to your department from other sites and systems may take significant time to change. While we can notify content authors of outdated department names via Dubbot reports, any external sites may not notice name changes. Search engines in particular can take several weeks to reflect changes.

You may also need other departments to assist with other aspects of a name change. For example, how the department is represented in PeopleSoft will need to go through HR, and any changes to its email address will need to go through IT.

Before requesting a department name change, you need the following things:

• Approval at the organizational level to change the department's name
  Digital Marketing does not approve or deny name changes for departments--we only carry out name changes that have already gone through appropriate approval channels
• Director or Vice Chancellor name and email
  This information helps us verify the name change and provide a notification when complete
• The original name of the department
  As it currently appears on your site and in the campus directory
• The new name of the department
  As you would like it to appear
• A list of any critical pages on mst.edu that link to your department
  If you know of major traffic sources that link to your site using your old name, we will perform targeted updates on these
• A changeover date
  We ask that you provide at least one week of notice

You may also need:

• The new subdomain desired
  If the name change is significant enough to require a new URL (e.g. changing "Food Service" to "Dining Services" and needing a subdomain change from food.mst.edu to dining.mst.edu)
• The new email address to be used
  If your email needs to change, we'll need to know to update your department's contact information. We cannot change your email address, though. Email changes will be a separate ticket with IT.
• Social media profiles to update
  Contingent upon these being managed in cooperation with S&T's social media coordinator. If we do not have access, we cannot make these changes.
• Other updated contact info
  If other items like your address, phone number, or fax number are changing, these can be rolled into the update

Please note that this service is only the final step in a department name change. During a name change you are likely to work with, at minimum, administration, HR, IT, and both the Digital Marketing and Creative Services teams within Marketing. Different departments have different paths to completing a name change. For example, if your department is academic, you'll also need to work with the provost and registrar.

1. Name changes must be approved through appropriate channels before a name change request is submitted.
2. Digital Marketing does not approve department names; however, it does approve subdomains. Transfers to a new subdomain will be reviewed and may be rejected. Common reasons for rejection include:
   
   • Not enough variation in department name to justify subdomain change
   • Attempting to switch from a common, easily recognizable and guessable subdomain name to an opaque name unfamiliar to target audiences (e.g. requesting eetm.mst.edu in place of hr.mst.edu)
   • Requested subdomain is difficult to type or confusing to a reasonable user (e.g. excessively long acronyms, overuse of hyphens and numbers)
   • Requested subdomain is too close in meaning or appearance to another department
   • Requested subdomain is likely to be contested by another department or major university initiative in the foreseeable future (e.g. attempting to register fusion.mst.edu for a rebranded makerspace when a new academic department specifically studying fusion is being formed)
3. In the case of subdomain rejection, we ask that you remember we are here to help and are offering constructive feedback with your department's best interests in mind. We will provide alternative choices and reasoning.
4. Your department's information will be updated on its website's header, the campus directory (A-Z listing), major landing pages, and any other major pages you specifically note. These changes will occur on the day you specify for the changeover.
5. In addition, a bulletin will be placed in our site monitoring software that will find all references in TerminalFour sites to your department's old name. The appropriate content authors for each match, if subscribed to Dubbot site monitoring, will be notified of the name change. These changes may be numerous and take more time.
6. References to your department's old name in your department's site content will not be changed. These changes are the responsibility of your designated content author. We strongly recommend that your content author subscribe to Dubbot site monitoring in order to track down all references to the old name.
7. References to your department's old name on external sites are beyond our ability to change. Your department may attempt to contact these external sites; however, there is no guarantee they will perform updates.
8. References to your old department name in search engines will likely take several weeks to disappear. Search engines re-crawl sites on their own schedule. Your search ranking after a name change will likely be dramatically lower for several months until traffic patterns cause search engines to re-rank your site several times. This is normal and is a result of search engines seeing your old name as established with significant ranking history, and your new name as a brand new site.
9. Updates to your department's name on social media channels is contingent on these being official channels managed in cooperation with S&T's social media coordinator. There may be additional verification steps, waiting periods, and complications with name changes on social media on a network-by-network basis. Social media name changes may not be completed on the changeover date.

The complete process to change a department's name begins well before requesting a department name change from Marketing's web services offerings. Submitting the form below is a finalization step and will generally coincide with final preparations to make the change public.

If your department's name change has received all appropriate approvals, then you'll need to gather the required materials from What you need above and submit the form linked below.

Marketing will review and verify the information in the request. You should receive a confirmation within 1-2 business days when everything is prepared for the changeover.

The changeover will occur on the date you requested if feasible, generally beginning at the start of business hours. It may take several hours to update all necessary records. You will be notified when the changeover is complete.

Request a department name change