'COAS' becoming 'COLL'

Meet Amanda Dodds. She is a junior and double major preparing to go to medical school. "I am a COAS student" Dodds said. "I am getting a B.S. in microbiology and a B.A. in French." \nBoth of Dodds' majors are liberal arts degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences. Dodds, like many other students, commonly refers to the College of Arts and Sciences as "COAS." However, the new technical abbreviation for the College of Arts and Sciences is COLL, which is short for "College." The change was decided upon last year by the University but many matriculated students remain unaware of the new name.\nAssistant Dean of COLL Catharine Hoff said the old acronym is being phased out with the introduction of the new PeopleSoft registration system to make it easier for students to find courses offered directly by the College, usually referred to as topics courses. Hoff added that the change was also made because "COAS doesn't mean anything in and of itself -- it's a nick name that is fine but doesn't mean much."\nHoff said all incoming freshmen have been notified of the change as have all the University's academic advisors.\nThe College of Arts and Sciences houses more than 50 departments and is the only college at IU. The other vocational oriented branches of IU are schools, such as the School of Education and the Kelley School of Business. \nMary Kay Rothert, an undergraduate academic advisor in the English department, which is part of COLL, said she welcomed the change. \n"Saying I am in the College has more meaning to an outsider than saying I am in COAS." Rothert said. \nMatthew Skiba is a junior working towards an interdisciplinary major in economics and math. "To me COAS is a general area of study for students," Skiba said. "The people in this area are open to many career paths, but they specialize in a certain disciplines."\nSkiba said he was unaware of the official change in the acronym of the College but added that the new name was more appealing. "COLL does look like it is short for college … and using COAS over COLL makes the College of Arts and Sciences look more meaningful," he said.\nDodds said the change would have little impact on her. "I don't really think that knowing the proper acronym for the division is terribly important to my education," she said. "It's interesting to know, but more as trivia than anything else"