The University of Rhode Island is freshening its image with a new communication and marketing effort to enhance the URI “brand” over at least the next five years.

The state university in Kingston that has worked to shed the “party school” reputation it was tagged with in the 1990s is spreading its new brand in printed materials, an overhauled Web site and an advertising push on billboards and in print and electronic media.

The new brand, summed up, goes like this:

“Small, beautiful campus; large, global thinking,” says Linda A. Acciardo, URI director of communications and marketing, and co-chair of the university’s branding steering committee.

As part of its image overhaul, URI is ditching its traditional logo for a new, typographical logo with the full name: The UNIVERSITY of Rhode Island.

The new brand tag line –– “Think Big. We do.” –– accompanied by an image of the Earth atop the university seal, already appears on some in-house publications. The university’s revamped Web site, considered a critical component of the new branding strategy, will go online Monday.

“Together, these elements proclaim that URI, with its uniquely small, quaint setting, is a preeminent university whose students, faculty and alumni are doing work that has a meaningful impact in Rhode Island, across the nation and around the world,” URI Vice President Robert M. Beagle wrote to alumni and supporters.

In an interview this week, Beagle said that URI has successfully squashed the “party school image,” which brought unwanted national attention after the Princeton Review named URI the country’s top party school in 1993. But URI “didn’t really put in place a consistent image to replace it,” said Beagle. School marketing efforts were inconsistent, and failed to answer a primary question: “What is it that makes URI unique in the marketplace?” he said.

URI began a self-study two years ago to answer the question.

Universities across the country are undertaking similar self-examinations, looking to improve their positions in the competition for students, research grants and donations from alumni.

“We will drop off the radar screen if we don’t do what we’re doing,” Acciardo said.

The University of Texas at Austin, for example, has recently re-branded itself with the lofty message: “What starts here changes the world.”

The University of Massachusetts-Amherst is having a debate over how to enhance its reputation. Some have questioned whether including “Amherst” in the name makes the school sound less prestigious, according to the Boston Globe.

“Pride in the university is important,” Beagle said. “If we hope to have more taxpayer dollars here or hope to have businesses invest in research here, then the people of Rhode Island need to have pride in their university.”

URI’s branding strategy was developed with FORGE Worldwide, a Waltham, Mass., marketing and branding consultant that has also worked for Northeastern University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Bridgewater State College.

The budget for the URI branding effort was about $150,000 last year and more than $400,000 to design advertisements and to promote the brand this year, said Acciardo. URI will promote itself throughout the Northeast, including New York and New Jersey. The shelf life of the new brand will be at least five years, said Acciardo. URI expects the results of its promotional face-lift may take three to five years to realize.

URI tested its new brand among students, prospective students, alumni, faculty and staff. The first place prospective students will probably see the school’s new image is on the URI Web page, which for most people “is the first campus visit,” said Acciardo. URI’s stodgy, static Web pages will be replaced Monday night with a fresher, more modern and colorful site that includes a number of videos.

“Most of our stakeholders see other schools investing in marketing and great Web sites,” said Beagle. “We used to get beat up badly about the Web site in comparison to other schools.”

Sandra T. King, vice president of marketing, communication and public affairs at Bentley College in Waltham, said it’s important for universities “to differentiate themselves, like any other product or service.”

Bentley is reviewing its brand, which is based on the school’s expertise in business and information technology. A strong brand helps a school compete for students, but also anchors alumni more closely to the college. Good branding helps build relationships with feeder schools that provide students and with employers that hire a university’s graduates, she said. When bright high school students express interest in studying business, King wants guidance counselors to immediately think: “Bentley.”

Brands may be occasionally refreshed or replaced, but good ones can endure. “Wheaties, as ‘Breakfast of Champions,’ has lasted a long time,” she said.

marsenau@projo.com