A letter from UCD Chancellor M. Roy Wilson
regarding the University name change
Dear University Community,
Following the internal and external community forums, I’d like to report to you the progress we’ve made on selecting a permanent name for our university. Additionally, I’d like to ask for your thoughts and reactions to some specific options as well as your general comments through a new survey (http://survey.sramarketing.com/index.php?sid=28845&lang=en).
It is my belief that the selection of a name will facilitate the ability of our university to continue to move forward and will be of importance for decades to come. For too long, this university has been living under a placeholder name given to it in recognition of the consolidation that occurred three years ago. While that name has served an important purpose, it is imperative that we examine all our options in selecting a permanent name.
Even if the current name is kept, that should be a decision made through a deliberative process rather than by default. That is why I have asked both the university community and local community to engage with me in examining our current situation and considering various alternative options.
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| Chancellor M. Roy Wilson, MD, MS |
It’s important that we, as a university community, recapture the connections to our schools and colleges where they may have been lost in the past. Under past administrations many of you have been discouraged from using your school and college affiliations prominently in identifying yourself.
With the selection of a new name, those old edicts will end. There is great value in the connection that you have with your school, college and department and I would like to see that value reflected in the way you identify yourself as a member of the university community. For the purposes of explanation, here are a couple of examples. I would like to encourage the following types of usage of a new name, once it is selected:
• University of Colorado Denver & Health Sciences, School of X
• University of Colorado Denver, School of X
These are simply two examples and are not intended to indicate any preference toward a name option. Of course, how the school name fits on business cards, stationary and other forms of communication will be determined during the creation of graphic standards, logo design and other elements during the branding process.
Finally, I’d like to encourage each of you to consider all the name options presented for additional feedback with an open mind. We have a somewhat unprecedented opportunity to create a unique identity for our university. Therefore, you will see out-of-the-box thinking on one of the names presented. It is important that we all approach this opportunity with the same spirit that we bring to our research, teaching and other work activities, a spirit of open-minded investigation and willingness toward creative discovery.
I would like to ask for your thoughts through a new survey. As you take the new survey, you may notice that some naming options have been deleted and others added. As a result of your input, two names have been deleted from further consideration (University of Colorado Metro Denver and University of Colorado Denver/Aurora) and replaced by two additional names (University of Colorado D&A and University of Colorado Denver & Health Sciences).
The addition of these two names addresses major themes that many of you communicated as important. The first was a desire that some reference to health sciences be retained in the name. The second is that the name be kept as short as possible. And the third was a clear desire among some that the name reflect something brand new without reference to current names on either campus.
Of course, each of these options has both positives and negatives that must be weighed. For example, the option that includes D&A is short and new but would require substantial marketing to explain and brand. Alternately, the option that includes health sciences addresses concerns of some in our health sciences community and is shorter than our current name, but is still a somewhat lengthy alternative.
You will also likely notice that the option, University of Colorado Aurora, has been added to the list for your consideration. I pledged to members of the Aurora community that I would present that option to you for testing during this feedback period and I am doing so.
Please visit the following link to access both the data discussed and to provide your feedback through the survey. This link will be open for the next three weeks – until Sept. 14 – to give all community members ample time to respond thoughtfully.
http://survey.sramarketing.com/index.php?sid=28845&lang=en
Again, I urge you to be part of this important process in the life of our university. Your participation is much appreciated.
UCD Chancellor M. Roy Wilson, MD, MS
