By Donna Fowler

The Name Change Transition Team, in weekly meetings since May 1, has been looking at redesigned word marks, logos and official University seals in anticipation of presenting its recommendations to the Board of Trustees at the June 7 meeting.

Affiliate art faculty member Scott Surine has presented several iterations of both the formal, full-name logo and the informal logo that uses a shortened name.

While consensus was reached rather quickly on the formal word mark, the informal logo drew considerable discussion.

Trustee Melody Harris, who specializes in branding issues in her law practice, pointed out that using Metro State in the informal logo, as it does now, doesn’t include the institution’s university status. “After our hard work, why would we want to lose that?” she asked the team.

Given this fact, the team has been considering an evolution of the “M-Bird,” to allow for the word university or a “U” to be incorporated.

To help the team make a decision on their recommendation for the informal logo, an online survey was sent May 23 to faculty, staff, students and alumni asking that they vote for their preference for a shortened name. The four choices are:

· Metro State

· MSU Denver

· Metro State U

· No preference

The survey closes at 5 p.m. this Thursday.

“The team knows that this is an emotional issue for many of us,” said Cathy Lucas, associate to the president for marketing and communication and team chair. “So we wanted everyone to have a chance to provide their input.”

The survey results along with the team’s recommendations for the informal logo will be presented to the trustees for their consideration.

Athletics logo
In a related issue regarding the shortened name, the team also is considering an informal logo for the Athletics Department.

Athletics Director Joan McDermott explained that there are a number of MSUs in Division II, so her department wants to keep Metro State.

The results of the online survey will impact any decision regarding an athletics logo.

College seal
Surine has also been tasked with designing a new University seal, which is used only on diplomas, BOT documents and other official documents. The team has narrowed down the possibilities to two, which will be presented to the board. Both designs include elements of traditional seals, such as the laurel wreath and torch, but are customized to Metro State through the downtown skyline and even one architectural element from St. Cajetan’s Center.

Team member Judi Diaz Bonacquisti, associate vice president for enrollment services, was particularly supportive of the St. Cajetan’s element. “It’s a great way to honor the sacrifice of the Westside community displaced by the Auraria Campus,” she said.

Harris commented that to put the Tivoli in front of downtown would make the seal more timeless, a suggestion that was included in Surine’s presentation the following week.

Domain name and email
The Metro State community online survey of three possible domain names that was conducted in late April yielded an approximate tie between msud.edu and msudenver.edu, with metrostatedenver.edu a distant third.

The transition team voted to recommend using msudenver.edu for the domain name and emails because msud is the acronym for maple syrup urinary disease and there are a number of sites associated with it.

Meanwhile, a subcommittee is looking at the issues around migrating the mscd.edu email address to @msudenver.edu. The migration will involve all faculty and staff accounts as well as those of more than 50,000 students and recent graduates.

“The change for faculty and staff will be like flipping a light switch,” said James Lyall, chief information officer and associate vice president in the division of academic and student affairs. “The student Google accounts will involve much more.”

Watch @Metro for updates about the transition as they become available.