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The UA at the University of Akron may become obsolete if the university changes its name.

(University of Akron)

AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron may change its name.

President Scott Scarborough released a statement Wednesday confirming that a name change was one of many ideas brainstormed during planning sessions, though the statement did not disclose possible new names.

A new name would "reflect its unique strengths in polytechnical and professional fields, along with career-focused applied learning," Scarborough said in his emailed statement. "This is only one of the many ideas that is being evaluated as part of ongoing strategic planning."

His email was in response to a Northeast Ohio Media Group query about discussions of a name change on zipsnation.org, a site focused on the university sports teams.

"I wonder what Zips Nation thinks about the new President's idea to re-name the University of Akron," posted AirRage on Feb. 28, who started a new message forum called "Thoughts on UA Rename."

That drew numerous responses, including several asking for the source of the potential renaming.

On March 1, Dave in Green posted: "My understanding is that Dr. Scarborough is having every aspect of UA reevaluated as most new CEOs in most businesses do, especially in times of a changing business (higher education) and economic climate. This includes basics down to the very name of the school. It doesn't mean that everything will be changed, but just those things that make sense to change to better position the school for the foreseeable future. It's possible that UA could be realigned in a way that a different name might make more sense in describing what the school will be focusing on in the future, which may be different from the past."

NEOMG has tried to reach several trustees for comment about the possible name change.

Public university names are established by state statute so legislators would have to approve any change, said a spokesman for the Ohio Board of Regents.

UA was founded as Buchtel College in 1870. College trustees transferred the institution and its assets to the city of Akron in 1913, when the school became known as the municipal University of Akron. It became a state university in 1965.

Hundreds of colleges have revamped their names to make themselves sound more attractive, according to researchers.

A study found that more than 530 of the approximately 3,000 mainstream colleges and universities have at least tinkered with their names since 1996, U.S. News & World Report reported in 2009.

Colleges look for names that project the image they want or reflect the changes they hope to make, the New York Times reported in 2005.

But changing a name can upset alumni and supporters.

Although 47 years have passed since Case Western Reserve University was created by the union of Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University, there are still those who believe it should not have occurred.

In 2007, CWRU trustees abandoned a proposal to change the university's brand name and logo to "Case" after alumni and others objected.