By Caitlin Gibbons

The College's Strategic Name Change Initiative moves forward on two fronts this week, with a town hall meeting and a state Senate commitee hearing on the issue.

The town hall will take place noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at St. Cajetan’s. Metro State President Stephen Jordan will discuss efforts to change the College’s name to Metropolitan State University of Denver and other issues. A question-and-answer session will follow. Light snacks will be provided, and the audience will be allowed to bring sack lunches.

Those who can't attend can send questions about the name change to This Week @Metro.  To see a live video stream of the town hall, go to http://www.mscd.edu/streaming/.

There will also be an alumni town hall meeting in early March. Details will be coming soon.

SB 12-148, the bill that would approve Metro State’s name change, will be heard Thursday, Feb. 23, in the Colorado Senate Education Committee. The committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. in room SCR 354. Alumni, board of trustees members, and students are to testify about the importance of adding “university” to Metro State’s name.

Among those scheduled to testify in support of the bill are trustees Bill Hanzlik and Dawn Bookhardt; student trustee Jacob LaBure; Jon Robinson (’90 accounting), president of UMB Bank Colorado and the Metro State Foundation Board; Roy Alexander (’74 accounting), former executive director of the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority; and Nita Gonzales, president and CEO of Escuela Tlatelolco.

The committee determines whether the full state Senate will hear the bill, and the hearing will help legislators understand the impact of the name change.

Full text of the bill is available here. The legislative history of the bill and votes also are available through the Colorado General Assembly website.