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Mary Washington College is no more--it's now the University of Mary Washington.
The university name is not a surprise. It became official yesterday after being adopted in November by the school's board of visitors and signed into law by Gov. Mark Warner.
But Mary Washington College has disappeared, as feared earlier by a vocal group of students and alumni and denied at the time by college officials.
At a news conference yesterday, UMW President William Anderson said Mary Washington College will no longer be used in connection with the Fredericksburg campus.
Instead, it will be referred to as the University of Mary Washington-College of Arts and Sciences. The name Mary Washington College will likely appear only at class reunions, according to Anderson.
Before yesterday, college administrators said the university name would merely be an umbrella linking the school's undergraduate campus in Fredericksburg and graduate school in Stafford.
The James Monroe Center for Graduate and Professional Studies was changed yesterday to the University of Mary Washington-College of Graduate and Professional Studies.
UMW "is the official name, corporate name of the university," Anderson told reporters.
The new name will begin appearing on university signs, stationery, admissions materials and merchandise in coming weeks.
It will cost about $100,000 to make the changes, Anderson said. The money will come from private donors, he said.
Faculty and staff have been asked to drop all references to Mary Washington College in voice mail messages and to stop using MWC stationery. E-mail domains are being changed to umw.edu.
The university name will appear on future diplomas, starting with next year's graduating class.
But students had been led to believe Mary Washington College would still appear on their diplomas even after a university name was introduced.
A question-and-answer section posted on the college Web site last year, before the name was decided, said undergraduates would receive diplomas from "Mary Washington College of: _____ University."
In May, Martin Wilder, vice president for enrollment, maintained the college name was not being dropped.
"'Mary Washington College' is not being eliminated or anything like that," he said.
In a Jan. 23 Free Lance-Star editorial page column, Dori Eglevsky, former rector of the university board of visitors, wrote, "Throughout the process of moving to university status, we, as a board and an institution, have promised that the transition will not tamper with the name, tradition, or quality of Mary Washington College."
Anderson, however, has the ultimate authority to recommend and alter individual campus names.
Yesterday, he said the new university name will give the school a better organizational structure that will allow it to flourish and remain flexible.
"This is a grand day, not only for our institution, but for the entire greater Fredericksburg region."
The changeover was celebrated with a brief flag-raising ceremony to unveil the new university logo, which had been approved minutes earlier by the board of visitors in a unanimous vote.
The logo includes four stylized, classical pillars reminiscent of campus architecture. The name University of Mary Washington is to the right of the pillars, with an emphasis on Mary Washington.
It was designed by marketing firm Barton, Matheson, Willse & Worthington. The firm also showed board members what the new logo would look like on campus vehicles, advertisements and billboards.
"It looks like a Matisse cutout to me so it has a real look of class and style," board member Nanalou Sauder said.
Faculty and staff got their first peek at the logo at the ceremony. People mingled on the campus lawn outside George Washington Hall, eating cake and drinking punch to mark the day. Most students are away for the summer and weren't in attendance.
"I absolutely love it," said Katie Shea, who works in the alumni relations office. "I'm an alum as well, so the columns have a special place in my heart."
Several groups welcome the university name. It was endorsed by the Mary Washington College Alumni Board, Mary Washington College Foundation Board, the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance and the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Anderson also noted that last year was the school's most successful fund-raising year ever.
To reach KELLY HANNON: 540/374-5436 khannon@freelancestar.com