Timeline and Process

Discussions regarding a possible name change for Walla Walla College have been ongoing since the institution was first officially classified as a university. Following is a brief summary of this history:

January 1996 – WWC Board of Trustees approved a motion to study renaming the college, after WWC was officially classified as a university.

April, May, October 1998 – Recommendations to change name from “college” to “university” were presented by three campus groups, including an ad hoc Name Change Committee, Faculty Senate, and Campus Master Planning Committee.

May 1999 – WWC Board of Trustees voted to recommend the name “Walla Walla Adventist University” to college delegates. The decision to change to the “university” name was based on recommendations from the previous year, as well as results of campus discussion and study, and opinion surveys of alumni, students, and faculty and staff.

May 1999 – Name change was not ratified by a two-thirds majority vote by delegates of the North Pacific Union Conference, as required by the WWC constitution and by-laws.

February 2003 – The WWC Master Plan, as voted by Campus Master Planning Committee, Faculty Senate, and the WWC Board of Trustees, included, as a portion of the Action Plan, changing the school’s name to include “university.”

May 2004 – A report by the University Study Committee recommended to the President’s Cabinet that WWC remain a college in name until four concerning issues be addressed, including the library resources, support for research, faculty salaries, and endowment. The committee also recommended beginning work to make improvements in these areas.

November 2005 – WWC Board of Trustees voted to ask the Executive Committee to formulate a process for inviting input from the Board, faculty, staff, alumni, students, and constituents. 

August 2006 – Name Change Research Committee, a Faculty Senate ad hoc committee, recommended taking a risk management approach, or an unbiased and systematic analysis of positive and negative risks, to a name change.

September 2006 – Online opinion survey, conducted by Strategic Resource Partners, sent to randomly selected groups of current students, prospective students, faculty and staff, alumni, constituents, and prospective employers, prior to the October 1, 2006 Constituency Meeting.