The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

I never really thought about going to college," a young woman told Dana Woito, the registrar at St. Jerome's, on a recent visit to a high school in the Toronto area. "I always thought I'd go to university. But now that I've seen your literature, I just might reconsider." That's just one problem that was solved on March 4, 1998 when St. Jerome's College officially and legally became St. Jerome's University. "Our new name will avoid much confusion, especially during recruitment of new students," says President Doug Letson. "Prior to March 4th, our official name was the University of St. Jerome's College, but we were commonly referred to as St. Jerome's College. It is little wonder that we encountered persistent confusion over our identity, a matter which was especially problematic from a recruitment perspective." Many secondary schools refer to themselves as colleges: Assumption College and St John's College in Brantford, for example; Ridley College in St. Catherine's; St. Michael's College School in Toronto; and St. Andrew's College north of Toronto. "Students attending such secondary schools saw registering at St. Jerome's College as a lateral rather than a vertical academic transfer," explains Letson. Another problem was that students often assumed that St. Jerome's was simply a residence on the campus of the University of Waterloo. Many university residences--including the women's residence at St. Jerome's, which was formerly called Notre Dame College, and Resurrection College, which is across the road from St. Jerome's--call themselves colleges. But perhaps the most persistent problem was that St. Jerome's was often mistaken for a community college. "Secondary school students and their parents often thought that an application to St. Jerome's College was an application to a community college a college of applied arts and technology like Conestoga College," says Letson. "Our new name will clarify our status." St. Jerome's, which was founded in 1865 by Father Louis Funcken as a Catholic institution of higher education for the training of young men for the priesthood, became incorporated as a university with the name "The University of St. Jerome's College" in 1959, at the same time that the University of Waterloo and Waterloo Lutheran University were given university charters. In July 1960, St. Jerome's federated with the University of Waterloo, waiving its degree-granting privileges and becoming the founding university college at Waterloo. In December 1997, after discussions at both College Council and the Board of Governors, application was made to officially change the College's name to St. Jerome's University. The Ontario Minister of Education gave approval on February 25, 1998, and official registration followed on March 4, 1998. "The new name will require a few cosmetic changes--signs, maps, letterhead, business cards, and our website will all require revision," notes Letson, "but there is no change in our arrangement with the University of Waterloo." Students registering at St. Jerome's will still enjoy all the benefits of being part of a small, comfortable community at the heart of a world-renowned university, and will graduate with a University of Waterloo degree. St. Jerome's by any other name No matter what you call it, St. Jerome's is a great place to go to school Photo: Ron Hewson St. Jerome's University Volume 16 Number Spring/Summer 1998 On March 4, 1998 St. Jerome's College officially and legally became St. Jerome's University.