In a report by Strategies 360, the marketing firm working on the CollegeNow two-year community college project, said the “City College” name would have the strongest recognition for two-year education in Billings, said Marsha Riley, dean of the MSU Billings COT.

In late March, MSU Billings Chancellor Rolf Groseth’s cabinet also discussed a new name for the COT.

Groseth said Tuesday that he liked “City College at MSUB” because it anchors the school in Billings.

He remembered that when the former Eastern Montana College became part of Montana State University Bozeman during a 1994 reorganization, local residents wanted the new name to include “Billings.”

Just as the renaming has been locally led, putting the new names into practice will be locally driven and assisted by students as well as faculty and staff members, said John Cech, deputy commissioner for two-year and community college education.

The college’s new name probably won’t appear on signs for another year, Cech said.

While new names are important, the transformation of the COTs into true community colleges since 2005 is even more important, Cech said.