Committee Assists with Logistics of Name Change

Undergoing a name change is more than doing research, holding focus groups, town halls and meeting after meeting. There are a lot of things that must be done behind the scenes. There, also, are a lot of unknowns.

"None of us have ever done this before," said Ada Badgley, the director of Strategic Initiatives for Thomas Nelson, which is becoming Virginia Peninsula Community College. "We've done branding and rebranding, but we've never changed a name."

To make the transition smoother, Badgley is leading the Name Change Implementation Team, which had its first meeting in early January, and will continue to meet weekly. Nearly two dozen faculty and staff make up the team. The group which will be examining the details of what goes into such a change.

"The idea is that we need to make it very seamless for the students and for the staff," Badgley said. "Our goal is that we will have uninterrupted service."

She noted the obvious changes, signage for instance. Other changes are not so obvious, such as submitting name change forms to the IRS and other entities.

"Some changes will be simple and easy, while others will be more complex," she said.

The team members represent all departments at the College, from the business office to facilities to human resources to marketing and more.

"Yes, a very good representation," she said.

It has been more than four months since the Virginia State Board for Community Colleges officially approved the name change, but one of the first big hurdles was cleared just recently: acknowledgement of the change from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). That is the organization that accredits degree-granting higher education institutions in the South.

The College is getting a lot of help with the transition. Since Thomas Nelson is one of five institutions in the Virginia Community College System undergoing a name change, the VCCS is working with a consulting company and a marketing firm to assist those schools.

"Each college will receive a product that the consultants are calling the 'roadmap,'" she said. "It will be a complete database of all of the instances of change that need to be updated along with the risk levels and costs, financial, time, and effort, related to those changes," Badgley said. "The 'roadmap' will provide suggestions on which changes should be made and in which order to help with a smooth transition."

The majority of the work the College's name change team is doing involves identifying all instances of the name use, both the obvious like signage and logo use, as well as items on the back end that could easily fall through the cracks.

While the official date for the name change has been identified as July 1, 2022, the process will not occur overnight. There will not be a light switch that is "flipped on July 1 when all instances of 'Thomas Nelson Community College' wil be instantly replaced with 'Virginia Peninsula Community College'," Badgley said. "The process will more of a dimmer switch of gradual and increased changes."

She added the College plans to continue using the "becoming" logo and language as its external image.

"The marketing committee is working to develop recommendations on a path forward regarding the next steps," she said.

In addition, all the external entities the College interacts with have to be identified, whether it's the government, military, financial, or other partners in general.

One thing that benefits the College is John Tyler, which is switching its name to Brightpoint, is farther along in the process.

"John Tyler is going first, if you will, and they are sort of the experiments," Badgley said.

One thing all the colleges have to do is select a new domain name. An organization normally can have just one .edu extension at a time, but allowances are made for up to six months of dual domain. However, that might not be enough time for colleges, which would like the period extended to 24 months. That would allow more time for someone who isn't aware of a name change to be directed to the new domain if they type in tncc.edu.

Badgley said her team has been working hard to identify all the things that need to be changed. However, she is asking if anyone notices something, please let her know. She'd rather you not assume they have it all figured out.

That could make for a much smoother transition July 1.

"Everybody wants this day where it all flips over, and it's not possible," Badgley said. "It takes time."