Madison Area Technical College is transitioning to a new name — Madison College — after a College District Board meeting last week.

“The reason we are getting a new name is because of the confusion with the other MATC, which is just 90 miles away, in Milwaukee,” said Diane Walleser, Madison Area Technical College Marketing Department and Enrollment director.

Walleser said the confusion over the location of the college is becoming more and more prominent for prospective students and employees.

Although the college is well-known in the Madison district, people searching for the college online are often taken to the Milwaukee Area Technical College’s website, according to Walleser.

To combat this confusion, Madison Area Technical College decided to adopt a new nickname that was chosen by a survey of current students and staff. The new name is targeted at the elimination of future misunderstandings over the two identical acronyms.

“We are going to keep our legal name — Madison Area Technical College. That is really important. We needed to replace the MATC acronym,” Walleser said.

To go along with the new nickname, Madison College is transitioning to a new logo, which has yet to be totally finalized.

“We haven’t had a new logo since 1993. It’s a way for us to identify ourselves and part of a new effort to brand ourselves,” Madison College spokesperson Bill Bessette said.

Bessette said Madison College has developed a 10- to 20-year Master Facilities Plan that involves future expansion of the Madison College campus to include West Campus and other additions. The new nickname and logo will play an important role in bringing those campuses together.

“We are not putting new logos on business cards and signs yet, but we are getting to the point where we have to think about those things,” Bessette said. “The logo and the nickname change is what we call a soft rollout. We aren’t going to change everything all at once.”

Walleser said the new nickname is now going to be informally used on campus and added to any replaced materials in an effort to have the name changed over by next fall.

Bessette commented that the students’ reactions to “Madison College” seem to be split 50-50. He said some students are misinterpreting the reasons behind the change and once the rationale behind the decision becomes more widespread, student feedback should become more positive, he said.