Out with the old, in with the n-U.
This January, the School of Business Administration officially became the University of Miami Business School – or, if you’re feeling extra snappy, the Miami Business School.
The new name certainly has a nice, pithy ring to it. While the change was effected by new school Dean John Quelch, his reasoning goes beyond taking a page from his last home, Harvard Business School. He just wanted to put Miami on the map – to name the school in such a way that it might actually fit on a map.
Putting Miami first, name-wise, definitely does that. Of all the schools and programs to sift through in South Florida, the Miami Business School will stand out to potential students – in just three little words, communicating an easy, breezy air that commands renown. We’re not just another university that happens to offer a business program – we’re the premier place to get a business degree in Miami.
Plus, it fits our school’s penchant for snappiness: the Comm School, RSMAS, our beloved “U.”
Dean Quelch also attributed the change to modern mores, saying “in the age of social media, we can’t afford to waste words telling people who we are.”
Online identities are defined by the personality we can pack into a Twitter bio, the info we cram into a caption before reading it becomes more trouble than it’s worth.
Certainly, the need for abbreviation has seeped from the screen and into the real world. We’re told just how long prospective employers will scan our resume before chucking it out with the rest – six seconds, if you were wondering.
We get the message loud and clear: if we ramble, we lose them.
This name change is just another solution to satisfy our craving for quick, straightforward information.
But is that so bad?
As long as you’re not led astray to 2009 levels of txt spk, being choosy with your words – at home or at work – can help you get your point across clearly and precisely. How many times have you scrambled to save a flub of a comment with, “no, that came out wrong …”
Over time, we might have shaken off our streak of “nm, hbu” conversations, but our love for efficient communication has yet to disappear. Embrace it, as did Dean Quelch, for fewer words that – somehow – say even more.
And with that, I’ll stop talking. I don’t have anything more to say!
Grace Wehniainen is a junior majoring in motion pictures.
Featured photo is a file photo of The Miami Hurricane.