Villa Julie College could soon be renamed Greenspring, Stevenson, Tufton, Billiart or Rockland University as the college seeks to distance itself from its Roman Catholic, all-female past.
College trustees will vote June 11 on whether to change the name, and if they do, they?ll announce the new name June 12.
The Maryland Higher Education Commission approved Villa Julie?s application for university status, but officials want to change the name to clear up any misconceptions.
“There is strong evidence that we are turning off a lot of our prospective students because they assume we are a Catholic women?s college,” said Paul Lack, executive vice president for academic affairs.
The 60-year-old college was named after Saint Julie Billiart, founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame. It separated from the Catholic Church in 1967 and went coeducational in 1972.
In the past decade, the number of students has doubled to 3,000, and the school opened a second campus in Owings Mills to complement its original campus in Greenspring Valley in Stevenson.
To better reflect the school?s secular, coed nature, officials asked students, faculty and alumni to
offer suggestions online, resulting in pushes for Sagamore, Great Oaks and Key University, among others. Using focus groups and surveys, officials narrowed the list to five names: Greenspring, Stevenson, Tufton, Billiart and Rockland.
The original name will endure as the Villa Julie College of Arts and Sciences within the new university.
Barbara Dannettel graduated from Villa Julie in 1961 and supports switching to Stevenson University, saying the current name doesn?t accurately describe the school.
“It has been an emotional issue for students and alums, but they have done significant marketing studies, so it?s not going to be a shock to anyone,” said Dannettel, of White Hall.
