NEW ORLEANS - As it prepares to mark its 100th anniversary, Our Lady of Holy Cross College is changing its name to the University of Holy Cross, in a move its board says acknowledges changes to the West Bank institution's educational offerings.
The name change for the Algiers institution, which opened in 1916, followed a recent meeting of Holy Cross' Board of Regents, according to a news release.
The board voted to rename the institution, in part to reflect the growth of advanced degree programs, including graduate and doctoral programs. Last May, Our Lady of Holy Cross College awarded its first doctorate: a doctorate of philosophy degree.
"The Board felt the name change was appropriate recognizing the fact that the College has been offering programs beyond the baccalaureate degree for a number of years, including awarding its first doctorate degree at its most recent commencement," said Kyle France, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Holy Cross Corporation.
The university status puts the institution in line with other Ph.D.-granting institutions, according to the school. The University of Holy Cross currently has more than 250 students in graduate programs with some 65 pursuing doctorate degrees.
"The evolution of the name of our institution reflects both the amazing chronicle of our past, as well as the incredible opportunities that lie in our future," said Dr. David "Buck" Landry, President of the University of Holy Cross. "As we enter a period of unprecedented growth in undergraduate and graduate education, this new name represents a milestone in the history of our institution as a university recognized for our outstanding degree programs."
Along with the name change, the board voted to end the two-tier board system that governed the institution. Instead, a new Board of Trustees of the University of Holy Cross Corporation was created. Prior to that, the two-tier system, introduced in the 1960s, saw the OLHCC Corporation owning and managing the college's land and buildings while a Board of Regents served as the governing board for the institution. With the change, the Board of Trustees has also assumed ownership and control of the land and the building, the statement said.
The Congregation of the Marianites of Holy Cross opened what would become Our Lady of Holy Cross College in 1916. Originally its mission was to prepare teachers for the many schools the Marianites opened in south Louisiana.
While the name change is effective immediately, the transition to the new name on the institution's campus will happen over the coming months, officials said.
The school has been in the headlines in recent years, after naming Landry as its new president in 2014, following a vote of "no confidence" in the previous president, Ronald Ambrosetti, by the college's faculty assembly. Under Ambrosetti, the school also generated controversy when the popular and respected college provost,Patricia Prechter, reportedly resigned after a heated series of email exchanges with Ambrosetti. Following Prechter's departure, one third of the college's full-time nursing faculty resigned. She has since returned to the campus as Dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health and Chair of the Department of Nursing.
