The trend for local colleges to re-brand as a university continues. Daemen announced Thursday it will now be Daemen University.
The announcement is a long way from the small Catholic college started in 1947 by an order of nuns and follows a similar announcement from D'Youville last month.
"More or less, university designation is thought of as more prestigious," said Daemen President Gary Olson.
The name change is actually a complex process, since it requires Albany approval. In most other states, the school simply does it.
Olson said the new name reflects the college graduate programs up to doctorates and a branch in Brooklyn. At the same time, he said the key is the Daemen name.
"We've always tried to be classy at Daemen and, in fact, we're more interested in branding the word Daemen," he said. "So if you're noticed in the new sort of logo that you see, the word 'university' is smallish because we want people to remember the word 'Daemen.' So you won't be seeing a big giant 'U' anywhere."
Olson said that word "university" will be important as Daemen expands the quest for students.
"One of the really concrete ways this will help is abroad," he said. "The word 'college' is not thought of with the high esteem that it is here. So if you are trying to recruit students to come to your institution, they're going to shy away from a place called a 'college,' whereas, they will flock to one called a 'university.'"
One of England's oldest and most notable schools is Eton College, but that's the equivalent of an American high school.
