College to Retain "Bombers"

While a visual identity for Ithaca College’s athletic teams is still in the process of being developed, one result of that process has already been decided: the "Bombers" nickname is here to stay. A series of focus group sessions led by a marketing communications firm hired to help create a logo for Ithaca athletics clearly indicated that "Bombers" should remain a significant part of that identity.

"We’re very excited about developing a distinctive image to represent Ithaca athletics and to honor the tradition of excellence that is the hallmark of this college," said Betsy Alden, director of intercollegiate athletics. She noted that replacing the nickname was never the aim of this effort but that it was nevertheless helpful to have its place of importance reaffirmed.

In February, Windsor Street Design Associates facilitated focus groups representing a wide spectrum of the College community — alumni, faculty, staff, coaches, students, and student-athletes. Although some participants expressed concern about the symbolic significance of the name "Bombers" and spoke in favor of abandoning the name, the vast majority voiced strong support for retaining it. To those, "Bombers" represents the qualities of bravery/courage, friendliness, honesty, respectfulness, discipline, integrity, grace/agility, and boldness.

Windsor Street is now designing a logo that will help convey those qualities. The logo will also incorporate the letters "IC" and the College’s traditional shade of blue, both of which received solid backing in the focus groups. The firm will present its results to the Athletic Logo Design Steering Committee, which will then make its recommendation to President Peggy R. Williams. The final image will be used on a wide variety of graphic materials, ranging from game programs to T-shirts.

Serving on the committee with Alden are Mike Bovi, director of College stores; Peter Kilcoyne, manager of printing services; Jack Oblak, vice president for student affairs and campus life; Anne Ryan, development associate for communications; Marina Todd, director of publications; and Mike Warwick, sports information director. Additionally, representatives from each of the seven focus groups will be named to the committee to ensure that a broad spectrum of voices and opinions is represented.