Photos to be taken by March 9 for new University identification cards

For some, it’s the chance of a lifetime: those unflattering photos that were taken when you were first hired to work at UConn, then pasted onto a University identification card, are about to be replaced.

For others, who were hired when they were much younger, it’s a troublesome change.

Love it or hate it, faculty and staff hired more than three years ago – before September 2003 – must obtain a new photo for a new University ID before March 9.

The new photos will be used as the One Card Office works to replace all University identification cards previously issued to faculty, staff, and students.

The new cards are part of a University-wide initiative to phase out the use of social security numbers wherever possible.

Instead, the cards will have a numerical identifier for every UConn employee or student.

“If we can limit the use of social security numbers to just the essential areas, and secure those areas, I think everybody will feel more comfortable,” says University Registrar Jeffrey von Munkwitz-Smith, who chairs a campus-wide committee working to limit the use of identifying numbers.

“I think we all realize it’s a potential problem.”

The new identification cards will be sent to faculty and staff in May.

In addition to the One Card Office in Wilbur Cross Building, photos will be taken at eight other locations on campus, beginning Feb. 21.

The locations are: