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ACH President Fred Fransen said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce on Thursday that he expects the college to bring people from around the world to Huntington while also sending people from Huntington to places around the world.

�����Ƶ�We are a college of second chances. We are a college that helps people who are trying to remake themselves. West Virginia itself is a part of Virginia that wanted to remake itself,�����Ƶ� Fransen said. �����Ƶ�We want to encourage that notion that �����Ƶ� don�����Ƶ�t let your past get in the way of your future. Think forward, think about how you can discover a new you and how you can use that to reach new heights with your own life while at the same time contributing to your community.�����Ƶ�

Thursday�����Ƶ�s ceremony celebrated the institution�����Ƶ�s decades-long history and broad future, Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Megan Archer said.

�����Ƶ�It�����Ƶ�s a milestone moment today, especially when you think back to 1936, all the way back �����Ƶ� nearly 80 years ago when this institution was first founded as Huntington Junior College of Business. It�����Ƶ�s really incredible when we think about how when it first opened, just offering shorthand and typing and bookkeeping to now offering six different degree programs,�����Ƶ� Archer said. �����Ƶ�The growth and the progress that has been championed right here within these walls is certainly worth commemorating.�����Ƶ�

The rebranding also features a new logo. It was designed to reflect the Liberty, owned by John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, which played a role in the events leading up to the American Revolution. It was seized by the British, converted to a royal navy warship and then burned by colonists. Fransen said it represents feistiness.

�����Ƶ�Huntington is a city of water, and West Virginia is a place of water and a place of mountains, and so we were looking for that. But the ship, the reason for the ship is that it symbolizes America as a land of discovery,�����Ƶ� he said about the logo.

With the name change, Ameritas College Huntington is planning interior renovations, too. It�����Ƶ�s also planning to integrate a stronger digital component into its programs where students will spend each quarter doing 10 weeks of online course work and cap it off with an in-person, discussion-based experience �����Ƶ� what Fransen called a �����Ƶ�wisdom adventure weekend.�����Ƶ�

James Bennett, chief academic officer, said this type of learning environment is sometimes used in prestigious grad school courses, but it�����Ƶ�s unheard of at institutions offering certificates and associate degrees.

�����Ƶ�It�����Ƶ�s creating an environment where you can really focus on thinking and experiencing things that you just normally don�����Ƶ�t have �����Ƶ� it�����Ƶ�s hard to take the time, our lives are so busy. It�����Ƶ�s kind of creating a meditative immersion experience where you�����Ƶ�re disconnected and you�����Ƶ�re really focused on exploring what you�����Ƶ�ve learned, but also learning how to learn in the company of other people,�����Ƶ� Fransen said.

All programs are expected to have some hybrid component by September, Fransen said.