ProfEd online, off campus programs renamed 'CMU Global Campus'
Central Michigan University’s Board of Trustees voted to rename off-campus and online programs to CMU Global Campus and abandon the university's former ProfEd name.
The resolution was passed unanimously by the trustees during a formal meeting Thursday in Bovee University Center’s President’s Conference Room. The transition for renaming the off-campus and online programs will occur over the next 12 months, though former policies referring to the old name will still be recognized.
Trustee Sarah Opperman announced the resolution before members of the board voted unanimously to endorse the new name.
“We have resolved that the name of the unit known internally as ProfEd and externally as off-campus and online programs be changed to Central Michigan University’s Global Campus,” Opperman said. “The change will be phased in over a 12-month period in coordination with university communications. All Board of Trustees policy statements referring to ProfEd or off-campus and online programs will remain applicable to the global campus.”
Merodie Hancock, vice president and executive director of off-campus programs, said the name was chosen after conducting marketing research and comparing other universities’ names for online programs.
“CMU has populations around the country and the world we serve and are involved in those communities,” Hancock said. “That’s where you’re seeing global campuses, worldwide campuses, world campuses. Those are the names we bounced around with our stakeholders, employers, students and the like.”
Hancock said CMU has 50 to 60 off-campus sites, including some in Canada and Mexico, and has considered making partnerships in India and China. Hancock said the new name better reflects CMU’s off-campus programs rather than the previous “ProfEd,” which had multiple meanings on and off campus and a separate external name.
“We use professional education to mean different things on and off campus, so there’s been a lot of confusion around it,” she said. "We’ve gone through numerous name changes and some have multiple internal or external names, so this pulls it all together into one global campus name and really reflects what we are as a campus delivering CMU’s academic programs from the colleges.”
