Villa Julie President Kevin J. Manning noted in his request for university status that the college built a new campus in Owings Mills in 2004 to accommodate ballooning enrollment and increasingly diverse academic programs. Loyola's April announcement noted "the institution's significant growth and evolution over the past 10 years."
But administrators might have more in mind than programs.
"Their brand is crucial," said Rodney Ferguson, managing director of the Lipman Hearne brand consulting firm, which spearheaded Western Maryland College's name change in 2002, when it became McDaniel College. "Colleges are revenue-driven institutions, just like any other company or organization. If they retreat from putting their brand out in the marketplace, their competitors will not, and they know that."
But, LeGendre says, renaming Villa Julie is "not like a pharmaceutical company naming a new drug."
Many "constituent" groups - students, parents, faculty, alumni, prospective students - feel personally invested in the change, LeGendre said. High school guidance counselors, employers, institutions providing grants and countless others must also be considered.
It's a process that most college staffs don't handle alone.
Loyola hired the Washington-based higher education marketing firm SimpsonScarborough to conduct market opinion research. Villa Julie hired Baltimore-based HCM Marketing Research to conduct similar research and also hired History Associates Inc. of Rockville to investigate the history of its proposed names.
Successes at other institutions, including McDaniel College in Westminster, are helpful examples as well, LeGendre said.
McDaniel dropped the name Western Maryland College because it gave people the impression it was a state institution that was far from Baltimore. The new name has solved those problems and bolstered the school's reputation nationwide, said Joyce Muller, associate vice president for communications and marketing.
"Our name change has certainly borne the test of time and did what we wanted it to do when we set out on this mission," Muller said. "I think the first year we changed our name we had a thousand more applicants."
McDaniel's success makes LeGendre confident in Villa Julie's decision, she said. "It seems the right thing to do from many perspectives."
kevin.rector@baltsun.com
