Marist College in Poughkeepsie Announces Name Change

Say goodbye to Marist College forever.

Alumni and current students at the Poughkeepsie, New York campus were stunned by an announcement on Wednesday that Marist College would be changing its name after almost 100 years.

Marist was founded in 1905 by the Marist Brothers as a Catholic institute to train the order for their service as teachers. In 1929, Marist officially became a four-year religious school named Marist College. Marist's dedication to Catholic education continued until 1969 when it transformed itself into a private college. While some Marist brothers still serve as faculty members, the school is now a secular college that is no longer affiliated with the Catholic Church.

Big Changes For Marist College

Over the past few decades, Marist has grown the footprint of its Poughkeepsie campus, added new graduate programs and launched a second campus in Florence, Italy. The school has become almost unrecognizable to alumni from 30 years ago, such as myself, who are still in awe of its transformation.

Buildings, like the new state-of-the-art Dyson Center that was just opened this year, have kept the school on the cutting edge of technology and education. A beautiful lawn and campus center sit where a pot-hole-covered commuter lot once was and the old dorm rooms that resembled cinderblock jail cells have been remodeled to attract a more discerning student body.

With all of these improvements, it was only a matter of time before Marist's name would have to change in order to reflect its new mission.

New Name for Marist College

The Poughkeepsie school announced on Wednesday that it would officially be changing its name from Marist College to Marist University. The designation was approved by the New York State Board of Regents and will officially go into effect next month.

Alumni we spoke with reacted with delight and a little bit of shock when they learned of the name change. A university is generally considered to be a much larger school. Marist currently has an enrollment of only 5,000 underclass students and 1,000 in graduate programs. By contrast, Syracuse University has an enrollment of over 22,000 students.

In a press release, Marist College (soon to be Marist University) explained that one of the main reasons for the name change is to avoid confusion for its international students. In many European countries the word "college" is associated with what we call high school while higher education is always referred to as "university". With a growing campus in Florence, the name change has become a marketing necessity.

Over the past few years, Marist has slowly dropped the word "college" from its brand. Apparel, campus signs and even its official logo all simply refer to the school as "Marist".

The official name change will happen when Marist welcomes back its university students for the spring semester on January 29.