The 970-student school will continue its mission under a new name: Cincinnati Christian University.

"Our new name tells where we are - and we are proud to be in Cincinnati - who we are - distinctly Christian - and what we are - a full-accredited institution of higher education," President David Faust told an audience of faculty, alumni and supporters Friday morning.

Drew Humphries, 22, of Sellersburg, Ind., is president of the senior class and served on a committee that discussed changing the name.

"It was wonderful to know that even with a change, we will always stay deeply rooted in the Bible," he said. "The new name, it just has a prestige to it, a richness."

For Faust, the change better reflects what the school has become.

"We're more" than a Bible college, he said. "We're that and a seminary ... and a graduate school ... and a degree-completion program. We're proud to be a Bible college; it's just that it doesn't describe what we are in whole."

The school, which expects to enroll up to 1,200 students in the next five years, offers religious education programs, including missionary work and youth ministry. It also partners with area schools, such as Cincinnati State, to offer traditional majors.

The school also unveiled its master plan for expansion on its 56-acre campus, including a new library, increased and improved student housing, and a student center. There is no construction timetable.

Faust also announced the planned construction of a home for the president near the campus.

E-mail kbvance@adelphia.net