Dear members of the Capitol community,
With the fall semester under way, I am as excited as ever about the accomplishments of our students, the dedication of our faculty and staff, and the quality of our programs. I am also excited to share with you the latest developments concerning our name and status.
The Maryland Higher Education Commission has approved our change of name to Capitol Technology University, as well as our new designation as a university. Meanwhile, our accrediting agency, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, has acknowledged these steps by entering the new name in their records. This brings to a close a year-long effort, involving many of you, to craft a meaningful name and to obtain a designation that reflects our status as a full-fledged institution of higher learning, dedicated to helping people and society to create, design, implement and lead ever-better technologies.
I want to thank all of our faculty, staff, students and alumni for contributing their ideas and reactions through the surveys we administered, and through individual conversations with me and other members of the leadership team about preferences for the new name. I hope our new name will generate continued excitement and creativity throughout the university community. I look forward to working with you all to make more new big things happen.
Since our institution's founding, in 1927, the Capitol story has been one of continuing growth and development. We began as Capitol Radio Engineering Institute, a school offering specialized training in one field, then added new programs and degrees, becoming Capitol Institute
of Technology and, later, Capitol College. Our new name and designation are the natural continuation of this growth trajectory, and they also reflect our aspirations for the future.
With a rich array of undergraduate and graduate programs at both the master's and doctoral level -- and with more programs planned for the coming years -- we now have the scope and depth of a university. The time has come for this reality to be recognized by the national and international communities of education, business, and government. It is time we use this new designation to serve more people and grow our organization.
The process of deriving our new name involved surveys of faculty, staff and alums, and conversations with: the president of the Ohio-based Capital University; our legal counsel; individual trustees, our strategic planning team; and other key constituents.
The criteria for selecting a name were: simplicity and clarity; focus and breadth; legacy and future; appeal and lack of adverse effects (trademarks, domain names, acronyms).
Over the summer, we laid the groundwork for the official unveiling of our new name, to be marked with a special ceremony at the Laurel campus on October 22. A change of this magnitude is complex. We informed regulators, legislators, accreditors, and partners. We redesigned our paperwork, computer-generated documents, building and road signage, and other university collateral. We will be launching a brand-new website in October.
I hope all of you are as excited about these changes and the opportunities they will open up for us as I am. Most importantly, I hope you will continue to be the vibrant, engaged and supportive Capitol community that you have always been. In the section below, you will find answers to specific questions concerning the name change process. Please join with me as we step forward into a new era for the school we all love, building on our existing strengths, and seeking out further avenues of excellence. The best is yet to come!
Very truly yours,
Dr. Michael T. Wood
CAPITOL TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
What’s in a Name?
Capitol is our foundation, history, and main location. It’s also a nice word. University is internationally the highest level of post-secondary education. Though there is no official differentiation between a college and a university, the university is seen as having highest degrees, diverse fields of study, and multiple colleges. Our schools will become colleges, and our colleges will expand.
Technology represents what we teach, research and serve. We are in a societal age where technology drives or mediates most business, government and social transactions. We educate people in conceiving, designing, building, implementing and managing technologies. We help people use technologies for business and professional success. This education brings together the disciplines of engineering, computer and information sciences, and business.
PAQs: Possibly Asked Questions
You surveyed us on three names and used none of them. How come?
We learned after the survey that Capitol University would have infringed trademark, as likely would Capitol University of anything. The survey results were evenly split between the other two names.
Why not go totally fresh and rename without Capitol?
See line 1. We have been Capitol for 88 years and want to keep it that way.
Why Technology instead of Technical, Technological, or Polytechnic?
Technical conveys trade school. Technological is an adjective, and if one Googles the word, one finds Michigan and Lawrence Technological Universities. Polytechnic plays well in New York (NYU Poly) and California (CalPoly). Local political leaders indicated that it would not be strong here, given that Baltimore Polytech, while good, is a high school.
Why University instead of Institute?
We are moving forward, not backward, and would be proud to be considered in league with Georgia Tech (a university and institute) and Virginia Tech (an institute and state university).
When is the party?
October 22, 2014. We will celebrate the time capsule, ground-breaking for the new Residence Halls and our new name. Details to come.
Other questions? Please ask me. Go CTU!