The University of Arizona is dropping the use of “UA” as a secondary reference — but there’s no need to stop the “U of A” chants just yet.
The school announced the switch in a Monday morning news release titled “UA Changes to UArizona.”
Pam Scott, associate vice president of communications, clarified that “UArizona” will be used in headlines and as a second reference in UA communication releases and documents, and is asking the media to do the same.
“Arizona” will be also be used in school marketing efforts. “U of A” won’t be used in communications efforts at all.
The school changed its Twitter handle to @uarizona months ago, signaling a rebrand might be coming. Scott added that other social media handles might also move to something that “indicates what UA is.”
At least for now, the university does not have any plans to start using “UArizona” on apparel or other merchandise, nor does it have plans to create new chants at sporting events. The change was ultimately made to distinguish the University of Arizona from other schools and entities, especially during internet searches.
Searching on the internet for “UA” or “UofA” pulls up results for the University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, Under Armour and United Airlines, among other schools and companies.
“When you search ‘UA,’ we were finding that we weren’t always appearing on the front page of Google results,” Scott said. “This will help us clarify that ‘UArizona’ is the University of Arizona.”
