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[helpful]

I googled the place and found this confusing answer:

Q: Has Western changed its name?

A: There is no plan to change the legal name of the university – The University of Western Ontario, which will continue to appear on diplomas and legal documents. However, in all our marketing and promotional materials, websites, and media relations materials, we will be calling ourselves "Western" or alternatively "Western University" when the context requires. We will continue to refrain from using the acronym UWO in our communications, as we have for the past 10 years.

So they are changing the 'shortcut' name of the place and not the legal name of the place. Very odd because the website, which presumably represents who the university is, calls the place Western University.

[llanfair]

Chiming in to wish the OP the best of luck with the interview.  You'll love living in Canada, tho' as a Maritimer, I can't promise anything about living in Ontario :)

[synecdoche]

Any Forumites out there who can give us the scoop as to why they renamed their university and how much it cost to hire some "Labelling" company to come up with such an original name?

The consultation was over $200,000, not including the practical costs of updating everything. The logic behind the move, according to the official press release, is to unify the school's brand. Oh, and also because Harvard is known by just the one name. No joke.

“Harvard isn’t just Harvard,” [UWO President Amit Chakma] said. “It’s Harvard University. But you don’t have to say university. How long will it take Western to get there, I don’t know. Our goal is to become such a recognized brand that just Western means us.”

See:
http://communications.uwo.ca/western_news/stories/2012/January/western_rolls_out_new_branding.html

[notaprof]

Reminds me of places who claim to be "The" university.  In my home state, if you said, "The university," everyone knew exactly what you were talking about and they had bumper stickers that listed it as "The University" but just cross the state line and everyone there had a different "the university" in mind. 

So they think Western will have an assumed "university" after it in the mind of anyone outside of the small geographic region?  I think of Western Sizzling myself.

Branding consultants need to be run out of town on a rail.

[scampster]

I had two interviews in Ontario last year and was at a conference in Ontario, and people seemed to refer to it as Western when speaking casually. We used to play them in squash as well and I believe we shorthandedly referred to them as Western. The Canadians* in the house can correct me if indeed people don't refer to it casually that way.

So are they merely making official the way people casually refer to it to help with branding? And I don't get the whole "one word" thing - I mean UBC and UT are referred to by their acronyms, right?

*I'm technically Canadian but haven't lived there, so I defer to people who actually live there.

[synecdoche]

So are they merely making official the way people casually refer to it to help with branding?

Yes, that's it exactly. That, and the fact that they think that "University of Western Ontario" makes the school sound very regional, and they are big right now on improving the university's reputation as an international calibre school. But at the same time it serves to highlight the most geographically wrong-headed part of the name. I am from BC, and when I first heard of the "University of Western Ontario," I assumed it was in Thunder Bay or Kenora or somewhere that was actually in the western part of the province.

But really, the irritating thing about it is that it comes down to the fact that they spent $200,000 on formalizing (but not quite) a nickname and a fresh coat of paint. And "Western University" does sound, as you so aptly put it, like "some podunk state directional." Or, worse, one of those private colleges that sell degrees from small offices upstairs in the mall.

[seniorscholar]

I completely agree with all those who say it's stupid. Some of us have known for years where "Western Ontario" is, have respected certain programs there, and did not know until just yesterday on the forum that someone applying to "Western" was applying to a real university.

[sockysockthesockman]

Since this thread has come back from the dead, I (the OP) would like to thank everyone again for their input. I had the interview, and the faculty I met with from Western were the nicest and most professional of any I've interacted with this season. It seems like a great place. Unfortunately, though, I didn't get the position. Sadness.

[llanfair]

Since this thread has come back from the dead, I (the OP) would like to thank everyone again for their input. I had the interview, and the faculty I met with from Western were the nicest and most professional of any I've interacted with this season. It seems like a great place. Unfortunately, though, I didn't get the position. Sadness.

Oh, poop.  Thanks for the update, though ... better fortune next time.

[deadcatbounce]

“Harvard isn’t just Harvard,” [UWO President Amit Chakma] said. “It’s Harvard University. But you don’t have to say university. How long will it take Western to get there, I don’t know. Our goal is to become such a recognized brand that just Western means us.”

This is the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard. Dozens of Canadian universities fall into the category that they, like Harvard or Yale, are known just by one word: Queen's, Laurentian, Lakehead, Bishop's, McGill... It has nothing to do with quality (as the Harvard example is meant to imply) but is simply because if "University" comes behind the name, people generally drop it since it is implied.

Sorry about the interview result, socky