Northwestern Michigan College’s University Center has officially been renamed as the “Boardman Lake Campus,” the college announced Thursday. NMC trustees voted to change the name at their regular monthly meeting earlier this week.

The Ticker reported last month that NMC was planning to relocate its university partners to main campus, in pursuit of increased campus “vibrancy.” Those partners have been based at the University Center for 30 years, ever since that satellite campus first opened in 1995. NMC launched the University Center as a way of offering advanced degree completion paths in Traverse City, including for bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, doctoral degrees, and specialty certificates.

Current university partners at the University Center include Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, and Davenport University, and education offerings there include everything from bachelor’s degrees in nursing to MBAs.

Despite the longtime tradition out at the University Center campus, and despite that building’s proximity to the popular Boardman Lake Loop Trail, NMC leaders told The Ticker that they heard from both students and university partners that there was a strong desire for those programs to move to main campus. Those parties will get their wish this summer, as all five University Center partners move into the James J. Beckett Building, part of what NMC calls its main “Front Street Campus.” NMC President Nick Nissley described the shift as “evolving from a physical hub to a more integrated partnership model” that better “reflects how students learn today.”

“Students increasingly seek flexibility: hybrid options, online support, and services across multiple locations, not just in a single building,” Nissley said.

With the universities no longer present at the University Center, NMC has changed the name of the building to the Boardman Lake Campus, effective immediately. According to an NMC press release, the new name falls “in alignment with the geography-based identity used for other campuses.” The building will continue to house NMC’s business and human resources offices, its extended education and training department, its strategic initiatives office, and the NMC Foundation. In addition, Greenspire High School has a lease on much of the building’s second floor, which lasts through 2030.

Bigger-picture decisions about the future of the Boardman Lake Campus will come at a later date. Nissley told The Ticker in April that possibilities would include leasing more of the building to outside tenants, selling the building, or redeveloping the property.