“Textile” (Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science) changed its name to Philadelphia University a couple of years ago.
1945 Gorham Normal School renamed Gorham State Teacher’s College
1965 renamed Gorham State College
1968 renamed Gorham State College of Univeristy of Maine
1970 merged with University of Maine in Portland to form University of Maine at Portland-Gorham
1978 renamed Southern Maine University.
**SlickRoenick ** took mine, so I’ll add that Towson University changed from Towson State University 5 years or so ago.
Very recently, “Western Maryland College” changed to “McDaniel College” and “Towson State University” changed to “Towson University”. I think there may have been other “Foo State University” -> “Foo University” in MD as well.
Oh, and a couple years ago, “Maryland Institute, College of Art” became “Maryland Institute College of Art”.
My school (as I’m a chem major) started out as Lowell Textile Institude, or something like that. Across the river was Lowell Normal. Lowell Textile became Lowell Tech at some point when dying cloth wasn’t the most crucial thing. Then Lowell Normal became Lowell State. Then Lowell Tech and Lowell State merged into Lowell University and then about 13 or so years ago, it became UMass Lowell. Granted most people hear UMass and think Amherst, so I’m of the opinion that if I went to Lowell Tech or hell, even Lowell Textile Institude, I wouldn’t be any worse off.
Also, I heard from a friend with family in Cleveland that Case Western Reserve now wants to be known simply as Case. No proff on that, it’s just what I hear.
In Michigan, Suomi College changed its name to Finlandia University a few years ago. So yes, their website is http://www.fu.edu.
I’m pretty sure Mankato State University changed its name to Minnesota State University, to take advantage of the team in the TV series starring Craig T. Nelson, Coach.
kunilou, this is a bit of a hijack, but do you have any idea of the enrollment at Missouri (Columbia) compared to Southwest Missouri State? A relative of mine insists that SMS has a higher enrollment. When I challenged his claim, he modified it to undergraduate enrollment. I used to check U.S. News but now they charge to look at numbers. Anyone else know where I can find university stats (a big database)?
Small, private Arkansas College in Batesville, AR, changed its name to Lyon College ten years ago, presumably so that it sounded less “public” and more prestigious.
My first school - Dekalb (Community) College - changed it’s name a couple of years ago to Georgia Perimeter College.
My actual alma mater - Georgia State University (where Peter Gabriel taught monkeys to play keyboards - has changed names several times. It was originally created as a “night school” for Georgia Tech students and offered more “humanties” classes than they taught at the time at Tech. I still remember that some of the chair-desk combos had “Property of Georgia Tech Night School” stamped on them. I believe that it became Georgia State College sometime in the early 1960s and Georgia State University sometime in the 1970s or early 1980s.
Southwest Texas State University changed its name in 2003 to Texas State University - San Marcos to sound less regional. It’s the sixth name for the place.
Albany State Teacher’s College changed to “State University of New York at Albany” in the 1950s (It was referred to as “SUNYA”), and to “University at Albany” about ten years ago. This wasn’t just dropping “State”; it dropped “New York,” too.
Texas Western won an NCAA basketball championship in 1966, but the college changed its name since then to “University of Texas at El Paso,” known as UTEP.
The University of Illinois at Springfield had been Sangamon State University until about 7-8 years ago.
I always just google the college web sites, but I suppose you’re interested in comparing all of them at once.
Anyway, the University of Missouri-Columbia is still the biggest school in the state, public or private. Total enrollment is about 27,000 with undergraduate enrollment over 20,000. Southwest Missouri State has a total enrollment of 17,000 and an undergraduate enrollment of more than 14,000.
However, your relative can take satisfaction in knowing that SMSU has jumped past UMSL to become the second largest school in Missouri.
Until a couple years ago, Baltimore International College was the Baltimore Culinary Institute.
Palm Beach Junior College became Palm Beach Community College in 1988.
Their website doesn’t confirm this, but I recall Salisbury University on Maryland’s Eastern Shore changing its name from “Salisbury State Univ.,” supposedly because they were tired of being referred to as, “Salisbury Steak Univ.”
My alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University, was formed from the merger of Carnegie Institute of Technology with the Mellon Institute in 1967. My dad has a school ring fabricated during a brief period when they hadn’t finalized the new name, because the ring says, “Carnegie University.”
Prestigious Columbia Pacific University changed its name to Columbia Commonweath University and moved out of state after the court ruling:
Here in Virginia, Mary Washington College has changed its name to “The University of Mary Washington,” which many people consider more awkward than, say, “Mary Washington University.”
from this article:
micco took mine 
Texas A&I changed it’s name to Texas A&M University, Kingsville. My Dad gripes about it every time it’s brought up 
The place to find college information is the Princton Review. Some of the schools listed there have a lot of info, but some of them are a bit lacking.
It isn’t just a change of name but, LDS owned and operated Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho became a 4 year school and is now BYU-Idaho. It was a decision that has had a big impact on the surrounding communities.