Growing into a College
While the school grew and the curriculum evolved over the next decade, including the re-introduction of a secretarial program, there was no change in the school’s name. In 1948, however, there was a major expansion in the number of faculty and courses taught at the school, and it was again decided that a name adjustment was needed. Eight new courses were added: advertising, merchandizing, business organization and management, business psychology, economics, public speaking, production control and time and motion study, and stenotypy. According to an article in the Union Leader: “To indicate the expansion of the school’s course of study and to show more clearly that secretarial as well as accounting subjects are taught, the name of the 16-year-old Manchester institution has been changed from the N. H. School of Accounting and Finance… to the N. H. School of Accounting and Commerce.”
The three traditional subjects that constituted “Commerce” at business schools were bookkeeping, arithmetic, and penmanship. Here the use of the word was much more expansive, suggesting comprehensive business and secretarial training, rather than just the basics. This change was part of a broader shift in accounting training after World War II which saw growing opposition to strictly vocational education and an increasing emphasis on liberal arts and “managerial accounting.” The training of accountants who expected to be business executives required a broader curriculum. It was also hoped that the name change would be more reflective of the secretarial program, a staple of “commercial” schools, and help to attract more female students.
The use of the word “School” rather than “College” in the name of the institution had been a constant since its inception. The change to the use of “College” was tied by authors Ann Shapiro and Phyllis Howard to the accreditation of the school as a two year business college and its incorporation, both of which took place in 1960. A 1969 news articles ties the name change to 1961 and the beginning of degree granting authority. In January of 1957, however, the name New Hampshire College of Accounting and Commerce was being used in articles reporting on the College's basketball team. Interestingly enough, at the same time and in the same publications the name New Hampshire School of Accounting and Commerce was being used in advertisements.
Advertisements had shifted to the "College" naming by the summer of 1958 when it described itself as “The Complete Business College.” This was, of course, a bold statement for a school that did not yet have junior college accreditation or degree granting authority, but it was not out of line with the advertising and naming conventions of similar schools. The change was reflective of a vision that moved away from a training school and toward an environment that combined both practical and traditional liberal arts educational elements into what would soon become a degree granting institution. The school began to offer liberal arts courses, with accreditation requiring that 25% of the curriculum be in these subjects. Informally, the school was often called “CAC” by students. This fueled some less than flattering sayings such as “If you can’t hack it, CAC it” from those that doubted the school's progress as an institution of higher learning. There was some consideration around the time of junior college accreditation of changing the name to New Hampshire Junior College, though that idea was ultimately rejected.
As time passed, the “Accounting and Commerce” portion of the schools name was de-emphasized. The name of the school was often shortened to just “New Hampshire College” in print headlines and internal use. In February of 1966 students of all classes dedicated a new sign for the College that used only the “New Hampshire College” moniker. According to the minutes of the January 14, 1969 meeting of the College’s Board of Trustees, they directed the administration to work on changing the institution’s name formally. Their main concern was whether the State of New Hampshire or the University of New Hampshire, which historically had been known as the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, would have any objection to the name, which they did not. The New Hampshire Coordinating Board of Advanced Education and Accreditation approved the name change. The new name was launched on September 1, 1969. President Gertrude Shapiro explained that the shortening of the name was because the longer version was unwieldly. “In fact,” she said, “most of us at the college have been using the shortened version of our name for convenience for some time.” While the previous name did accurately reflect the school’s continued emphasis on accounting and secretarial subjects, the plan to expand majors beyond those fields was also a factor in the decision: “by retaining the old name we would be restricting ourselves for the future,” Mrs. Shapiro said. Athletic Director Lou D’Allesandro humorously noted another benefit: “Can you imagine, the problem I’ve had in getting the name New Hampshire College of Accounting and Commerce on our athletic uniforms?”