The impact of a name change
Union College will no longer be Union College. Since April 2023, Union’s Board of Trustees has contemplated changing Union’s name to include “university.” Students, alumni and employees alike have voiced their opinions of the change. This past Monday, the board voted unanimously to change Union College’s name. 83 percent of the board voted to change it to Union Adventist University. While it may seem like a simple decision at first, changing Union’s name will have effects on many aspects of campus life.
Alejandra Hutchison, Union’s resource and instruction librarian, believes there is much work to be done but sees the change as an opportunity to expand academic access. “The library serves as one of the cornerstone resources for our academic programs to support research, teaching and learning. This opportunity also presents the library with a chance to align itself with other academic libraries throughout the United States, by changing our classification system”, said Hutchison. According to Hutchison, the library currently employs the Dewey Decimal System, which allows students access to only 10 distinct subject areas. Now that Union is a university, it is now eligible to utilize the Library of Congress, which allows access to 21 subject areas. “It will be a substantial undertaking, requiring the adjustment of spine labels and computer records for every book in our collection.”
On the academic side of Union, Academic Dean Bruce Forbes welcomes the name change. “I believe changing Union’s name to include the designation of “University” would more accurately reflect the fact that we currently offer three graduate degree programs, with a fourth coming online fall 2024”, said Forbes.
The most obvious effect the change will have is in marketing. “Integrated Marketing and Communications is where the rubber meets the road during name changes and branding for all programs and the institutions as a whole”, said Steve Nazario, visual communications director for Integrated Marketing Communications. “There will be just a few signs needing updates, but surprisingly not very many. Other areas that we manage such as social media communications amongst various platforms and our website require consistent branding as well … one nice thing that's in our favor is our current brand redesign from 3 years ago will carry over into the new name. We plan to keep the Union logo design along with the shield”, said Nazario. “IMC takes pride in what we do for this college and we look forward to helping spread the good news of who we are and who we serve.”
There is a lot of work ahead to ensure a successful rebranding. Union Adventist University is set to launch in May 2024. According to Nazario, “A lot of prayer, study, research and more prayer has gone into this journey. Union has a really strong culture and a new name with university in it will enhance it. I look forward to seeing Union grow and this is another step in moving in that direction.”
By Evan Majors