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Fransen said the HJC name change is part of a trend heÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s seen nationwide of colleges that have dropped the word ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œjuniorÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� from their names.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWe want them to think of us as every bit as a strong and meaningful college ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” the education that weÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re providing to be as strong and meaningful as that of any of any other college,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Fransen said.

Beyond that, Fransen said, the college has been working on developing programs that would be attractive outside the Huntington area and possibly creating additional degrees. He said he, along with a renaming group, tried to come up with a title that would reflect the collegeÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s expansion efforts while keeping its roots in Huntington.

The word ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œAmeritas,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� he said, was created both for its ability to fit inside a website URL and because of different meanings Fransen associates with parts of the word.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWe believe deeply in the spirit of America, which, warts and all, there is a spirit of opportunity, about being future-oriented, and in particular, about second chances. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥¦ America is the place where people go to remake themselves, and we want the college to be a place thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s very welcoming to those who want to remake themselves,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Fransen said, adding the name was also easily pronounceable.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWe like the notion that merit is in the middle of the name college, and society in general should be about rewarding merit, and we want to be we want that to be first and foremost, and then at the end of it, adding something that sounds a little Latin also works.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

The school was also given a new blue logo depicting a ship surrounded by a compass. It was designed to reflect the HMS Liberty, owned by John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, which played a role in the events leading up to the American Revolution.

While Fransen said he couldnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t yet be specific about possible upcoming program additions or degree changes that are in the works, he noted the college was authorized in January to offer courses in prisons, where it has been teaching a non-accredited civics course for the past eight years.

Fransen noted the school has signed several admission agreements with universities including Marshall and West Virginia universities and was approved to offer a two-year degree in classical liberal arts. He said the schoolÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s largest program at the moment is its associate degree in addiction recovery.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œThis is a unique program that prepares people to work in facilities that are trying to address those addiction problems that have plagued our area, our community, but the country as a whole. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥¦ As we begin marketing that nationally, weÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re looking forward to being able to do so under a more universal name,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Fransen said.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œAnd then we have other programs that weÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re looking to build as well. But those are the two that where we think that thereÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s a national audience for what weÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re doing, and we want to have a name that both speaks to our vision and also is attractive and appealing to that national audience.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

In tandem with the collegeÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s development in programs, it is also seeing growth in enrollment. Fransen said the school had 88 students in the summer of 2022, but it has more than 230 students as of this month.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s been remarkable to me to see just how many people the college has touched over the years and the really important impact it had, specifically on students who were eager to make something of themselves, to do better in their lives, but found that they werenÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t quite ready for a large four year institution like Marshall,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Fransen said.

He added that many of the collegeÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s students may also be coming out of substance use recovery, making education an ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œimportant milestoneÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� for them to thrive.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWeÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re really proud of our role of helping people get onto that first rung of the educational ladder.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

The college is also working to secure funding to fully restore its building, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The schoolÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s headquarters, in the historic 1902 Carnegie Library building on the corner of 5th Avenue and 9th Street in downtown Huntington, will be ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œreintroducedÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� with its new name and logo during a ribbon-cutting at 11 a.m. Feb. 27, hosted by Fransen and the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce.