Loyola College to Be Renamed

In a ceremony Friday, Loyola College in Maryland will become Loyola University Maryland.

The Baltimore school, founded in 1852, will celebrate the official name change with an afternoon convocation, featuring a keynote address by Georgetown University President John DeGioia.

Loyola's president, the Rev. Brian Linnane, said the designation "college" no longer reflected "who we are as an institution," with 3,700 undergraduates, 2,500 graduate students and graduate programs in nine disciplines.

Market researchers surveyed prospective students and found that two-thirds felt it was more prestigious to attend a university than a college.

Loyola is a Jesuit institution, like Georgetown, with a college of arts and sciences and schools of business and education. The institution offers doctoral degrees in clinical psychology and pastoral counseling.

DeGioia and Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore are to receive honorary doctorates Friday, the first degrees awarded by the new university.

A new branding strategy is afoot, including an updated Web site that goes live Friday, and new advertising and road signs. The name will continue to include "Maryland" to distinguish the school from Loyolas in Louisiana, Illinois and California.

"I just saw the first Loyola University of Maryland window sticker as I was coming to my office this morning," Linnane said in a recent interview.

-- Daniel de Vise