It’s finals week for the Red Foxes at Marist College as students gear up for winter break, but also a big change coming next semester.
As Marist enters its next centenniel in 2029, it will be taking a new name with it. The school in Poughkeepsie will be changing its name to Marist University on Jan. 29, 2025.
The change was voted on unanimously by the Board of Trustees and approved by the New York State Board and Regents.
"Marist has achieved remarkable success over the past several decades, transforming from a small regional college into a nationally and internationally renowned leader in higher education," President Kevin Weinman said. "Marist University better describes the breadth of opportunities we offer to students today and the vision we have for Marist's next century."
Spectrum News 1 paid a visit to the campus on the Hudson River to see how students were feeling about the name change.
“When I hear Marist University, actually, I get quiet excited," said Tyler Mecca, a sophomore business administration student at Marist. "With a new Dyson Building and a new track being built, I feel like it’s the perfect opportunity to transition into a university.”
Valincia Hill is studying marketing with a minor in public relations. She said when it was time to pursue a higher education, committing to Marist College was an easy decision.
“I knew I kind of wanted to get out of that West Coast cube that a lot of people on the West Coast kind of go to,” the Las Vegas native said.
She said Marist offers unique opportunities she feels she can’t get elsewhere.
“Marist quite literally has the best abroad programs in the country, and then I also heard about all of the interactive classrooms and all of the different opportunities that they offer here," she said. "I just knew I really wanted to be a part of that.”
From its small classroom settings to offering more than 75 study abroad programs, Weinman believes becoming a university was long overdue.
“We’re in awe here at Marist. We’ve been around for 95 years, and we feel it's time for us to rename ourselves into a university, which has so much enthusiasm and excitement,” Weinman said.
He encouraged students to take advantage of what the rebranding process has to offer.
“We have 6,000 students, 15 graduate programs, 50 majors, Division I athletics, a branch campus in Italy,” he said.
Despite the advances, Weinman said the word university simply speaks to how Marist has evolved.
“We’re not looking to become bigger. We’re not looking to become a different institution. We’re looking to tell the world who Marist has already become, and we’re really proud of that.”