As its 75th anniversary approaches, the Institute of Technology will celebrate with a facelift.

Effective Thursday, it will be known as the College of Science and Engineering. With the change comes a new website, stationery and T-shirts.

The soon-to-be old name didn’t adequately identify the school for what it is, Dean Steven Crouch said. The CSE name reflects the school’s engineering, mathematics and science programs better than IT ever could.

IT only created confusion, and in the quest for research funding and tuition dollars from prospective students, a concise name is crucial, Crouch said.

The change was approved by the Board of Regents in December 2009, but Crouch said the discussion goes back at least five years.

“Over and over again, the name came up as a barrier to progress,” Crouch said.

The process was put into motion in 2008 thanks to the Dean’s Advisory Board, led by chairman and University alumnus Ron Christenson, who applauded Crouch for listening and eventually leading the necessary change.

“If you’re not from the University, the name itself can mislead people,” Christenson said of the old name. “So when you’re out there trying to promote a very good institution, that’s not helpful.”

Crouch and the advisory board agreed on the new name in part because it emphasizes the unique fact that the school houses both physical sciences and engineering — a rarity throughout the nation that will serve as an advantage.

“We need to be more boastful of that to the outside world,” Crouch said.