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The University of Akron is no longer using "Ohio's Polytechnic University" as a brand.

(Karen Farkas, cleveland.com)

AKRON, Ohio- The University of Akron no longer features "Ohio's Polytechnic University" as its brand.

The phrase, featured prominently with the university's name for a year, has been replaced by "Home of Williams Honors College" on the main school website.

The phrase has been de-emphasized to a tagline that can be replaced by others, said Larry Burns, vice president for advancement.

"When it (Ohio's Polytechnic University) was presented a year ago it was seen more as a tagline that could evolve into something more permanent," he said. "As time went on we felt, based on the reaction from many, that it works as a tagline for certain audiences but not for all audiences."

Students who met with university board of trustees Chairman Jonathan Pavloff on May 12 said Pavloff admitted the rebranding did not work.

"I'll also admit that... it didn't work... I'll offer that it's not something that will continue... The fact that it didn't work, I'll be the first to stand up and apologize," Pavloff said, according to a summary of the meeting posted on the Ohio Student Association Akron Chapter Facebook page.

Two members of the association, a student leader from the Student Democrats and one from Liberation in Progress, had met with Pavloff.

The students wrote that the branding was described by Pavloff as a way to make UA the distinctive choice for students who are deciding where to go, but that it failed.

"Ohio's Polytechnic University" became part of the university's identity and placed next to the university's name on its website after it was unveiled by President Scott Scarborough last May at the City Club of Cleveland.

"A polytechnic university is a university that educates students in the application of science and the arts and uses technology to connect higher education to business and industry," he said in his speech.

The announcement was met with plenty of criticism.

Scarborough said he was not announcing a name change. That idea had drawn strong opposition from faculty, students and alumni. He said he was announcing a "repositioning, a clear identity, a clear direction."

The university spent $111,000 to determine the new brand.

Why polytechnic? That direction was determined after the university worked with four firms and financed the work with an unrestricted $250,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, said Wayne Hill, chief marketing officer.

Where is the brand featured now? "Ohio's Polytechnic University" still is included on the web page of some departments, including the law school.

"The usage of 'Ohio's Polytechnic University' has been de-emphasized from a consistency standpoint," Burns said. "But what hasn't been de-emphasized is the experiential learning concept that polytechnic represents."

The university still has a page on its website about why it should be a polytechnic university and describes polytechnic on a page describing the proper use of the brand.

What's the university featuring now? The university now features the honors college by its name.

The college was renamed in February in honor of Dr. Gary and Pamela Williams, who provided a $3 million gift.

There is no mention about a polytechnic university on the university's "About UA" page for prospective students.

"The University of Akron is the region's most influential public research university, contributing to the resurgence of the local economy, providing a workforce highly trained in diverse disciplines, and known for an innovative approach to higher education," the university says on that page.

This story has been changed to include comments from the University of Akron.