What happens if your univ changes name?

Hi, could you help me answer the following questions,

1) If you are partially through completing a degree program and the institution changes names what happens ? (do you have a choice? - what if the students rebel/complain)?

2) And for those who graduated before the name change what happens? (what if someone checks your resume a year or 2 later, and the name is different, won't that cause issues) ?

Thanks

 

To answer your question. If a student graduated when the school was known for its prior name, the student would list the name of the school at the time they graduated. If they graduated with the old school name, then that is the name that you would use on your resume and is the offical way that it is suppose to be listed. If a student graduated when the school has changed its name then the student would list the name of the new school on his/her resume. That is the official way of putting it down and the proper way.

In reference to whether you prefer one name over another that is not relevant. That's not to say that you aren't entitled to your opinion, but it is very highly unlikely that a school will give you a choice as to which school name you would like to have listed on your degree/diploma and on your transcript.

In terms of students that have graduated from a school that has changed their name, or had multiple name changes, you would still list the old school name and in () list the name of the new school so that it corresponds to it. But, the most important thing is that as long as the school was properly accredited, and so forth, there will always be a record of the school regardless whether it is an old name or a new name.

For employers, they will simply call the school and talk with the Registrar's Office to confirm that such and such a person graduated with a degree in such and such discipline and the year of graduation. That's the most common thing that happens to verify academic credentials.

Hope this answers your question.

 

Allow me to add a dissenting comment.

Resumes are intended first and foremost to be clear. If my university had changed their name, I'd list the current name 1st and then (and in parenthesis) I'd list 'Formerly Known As...'

To suggest that a school can be so capricious as to demand someone list an older name on their resume when the school itself no longer goes by that title is a little disingenuous in my opinion.

And yes, I've seen resumes with the (Formerly Known As) verbiage so I'm not buying that it's not proper.

Be clear, accurate and truthful on your resume. What the school wants beyond that is interesting but that's about it.

 

I graduated from International College. A few years later, Mr. and Mrs. Hodges donated 12 million dollars to International College, so the name of the school was changed to Hodges University. For a small fee, the university offered to issue new diplomas and new transcripts that reflected that we graduated from Hodges University, instead of from International College. I paid the fee, so now I have a diploma and transcripts that indicate that I graduated from Hodges University.

 

This issue has always annoyed me as well. So far it's happened twice.

First when I received my undergrauate degree, Regents College = Excelsior College.

Second time when I received my masters, Audrey Cohen College = Metropolitian College of New York.

I think putting formally known as in () gives legit schools a fly-by-night quality.

Rich

 

If you are currently in the program when the uni changes names, often you will have a choice of which school name goes on the diploma. This was the case with the name changes Touro University International to TUI University and Ellis College of New York Institute of Technology to Ellis University. As for how to show it on your resume:

BA, History/Political Science, University of Colorado Gunnison (fka Western State College of Colorado)

BA, History/Political Science Western State College of Colorado (nka University of Colorado Gunnison)

 

This topic was quite controversial and newsworthy in 1896, when the long-established College of New Jersey changed its name to Princeton University. Lots of unhappy people who hated the new name.

And then the complications compounded in 1996 when Trenton State College changed its name to the College of New Jersey.

It is safe to say that the great majority of 'gatekeepers' who read resumes--the humans and the scanbots--know all this stuff, and act accordingly.

Incidentally, of the nine so-called "colonial colleges," five subsequently changed their names:
College of New Jersey -> Princeton
College of Philadelphia -> University of Pennsylvania
Kings College -> Columbia
Queens College -> Rutgers
College of Rhode Island -> Brown

--John Bear (who still wonders what the
"T", the "U", and the "I" stand for in "TUI University")

 

Both UK colleges I attended are now universities.

USNY became Excelsior.

I list Excelsior on my resume since that can easily be looked up by a client, employer, or college.

I don't list the UK colleges because those credits got folded into my Excelsior degree.

 

Technically, the school now known as Princeton University was historically known as the "College of New Jersey" ... while the school formerly known as Trenton State College is now known as "The College of New Jersey".

See the difference? It's kind of subtle, but does explain why the standard abbreviation for the school formerly known as Trenton State College is "TCNJ".

Princeton was quite unhappy about the "The College of New Jersey", despite the fact that it hadn't used the "College of New Jersey" name since the 19th Century, and tried unsuccessfully to block it in court. The institution with the formal name of "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey" (often casually abbreviated to "Rutgers") didn't care much for "The College of New Jersey" either, and unofficially backed Princeton.

 

And why would the school formerly known as Queens College care if the school formerly known as Trenton State College claims the name of the school now known as Princeton University? For that matter, why would Princeton care if some school picks up a name it had abandoned 100 years earlier?

 

Because of the perceived danger of confusion between the two schools, naturally. From a contemporary Princeton news story:

Shockingly, the courts did not find Princeton's arguments to be credible. We can only speculate as to the damage caused to confused applicants who mistakenly applied to TCNJ instead of Princeton (or vice versa).

 

The full legal name of Rutgers (the school formerly known as Queens College) is "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey" -- which does have some similarity to "The College of New Jersey".

Of course, this concern may be mitigated by the fact that no one, in practice, uses the name "The State University of New Jersey" when referring to Rutgers. They just say "Rutgers".

 

You could make a case that Harvard and Yale changed their names as well, since neither institution was known as a "University" during the colonial era. That leaves only Dartmouth College and the College of William and Mary with their colonial names.

 

Shockingly? Hardly. Princeton University had given up the name College of New Jersey 100 years prior to when Trenton State College took it up. Consequently, they no longer have any patent, copyright, or trademark rights to the name. Any idiot who mistakenly applies to the College of New Jersey (fka Trenton State College) thinking that he/she is applying to Princeton University (fka the College of New Jersey) is so dumb that he/she doesn't deserve to be admitted to an Ivy League school.

 

I attended Troy University when it was Troy State University. When I graduated my diploma and transcript states "Troy University." In my resume, I list it as Troy University....but sometimes the Employers asked me if that is Troy State. I said, "YES."

That's my story!!!

 

Many legitimate colleges and universities have changed their names. The practice of changing an institution's name from "college" to "university" has become quite common place. Memphis State University became the University of Memphis not too long ago. Mankato State University became Minnesota State University, Mankato. Utah Technical College became Utah Valley State College and, finally, Utah Valley University. Other universities, such as Alliant were formed by the merger of multiple institutions.

I do not even blink when a resume comes to me with an institution "formerly know as". There is nothing "fly by night" about it.

 

I conceed the point and will adjust my resume accordingly.

 

Well at least no one (except perhaps sports page headline writers**) complained when Beaver College became Arcadia University (2001) and Dyke College evolved (with a few interim steps) into Chancellor University (2008).

The Beaver folks were very up front (as it were) about the reasons. The then-President wrote that Beaver "too often elicits ridicule in the form of derogatory remarks pertaining to the rodent, the TV show Leave It to Beaver and the vulgar reference to the female anatomy."
_______
**Wonder if the teams ever played each other. It would be challenging to write the "Dyke [verbs] Beaver" headline.

 

Dartmouth almost changed its name and actually kind-of did for a short while. The story's interesting.

The State of New Hampshire took over private Dartmouth College in the early 1800's, installing their own trustees and announcing that Dartmouth would henceforth be a state university called 'Dartmouth University'. Dartmouth's former trustees fought the takeover and their case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where Dartmouth College's case against the state was argued by Daniel Webster (a Dartmouth alum). In 1819 the Supremes found for Dartmouth College, allowing it to remain private. It seems that this 'Dartmouth College Case' and the opinion authored by Chief Justice John Marshall is considered a landmark in the legal evolution of American private universities.

And ever since that day, Dartmouth has steadfastly and defiantly remained Dartmouth College, never university, despite the fact that it hosts a medical school and offers many doctoral programs, notably in the sciences.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/home/about/history.html

 

Did the Beavers ever play the Dykes?