From Now On, It’s Just <i> Rockwell </i> to Us : Image: Change from defense to commercial emphasis highlighted by dropping the <i> International.</i>

Rockwell International Inc., long associated with the Cold War and the space race, said Wednesday that it has embarked on establishing a new identity to make the technology conglomerate a household word.

To that end, directors of the Seal Beach-based aviation, electronics and high-technology company voted during its annual meeting to delete the word International from the firm’s signage, business cards, stationery, packaging, sales material and company vehicles.

The legal corporate name, however, will not be changed.

The deletion is a recognition that the company, which once relied on defense work for half of its annual revenue, is rapidly changing, said company spokesman William Banning.

Today, about 65% of the company’s $11 billion in annual sales comes from commercial sales.

The company’s diversification efforts, accelerated by debilitating defense cutbacks in Washington, have resulted in increased emphasis on the production of such non-defense-related products as automotive parts, microchips, telecommunications and commercial aviation gear, Banning said.

“We believe this new program is a key way to illustrate to our stockholders, Rockwell’s most important strength: a unified but globally diverse corporation,” said Chairman Donald R. Beall in a prepared statement issued after the company’s annual meeting, which was held in Milwaukee.

“The new identity will provide strong name recognition for Rockwell and its valuable brands on a worldwide basis,” he said.

The company also announced Wednesday that William H. Gray III, president of the United Negro College Fund, was selected as Rockwell’s newest director, increasing the size of the board to 13 members.

Gray, 52, who also serves as a senior minister of the Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia, was a U.S. congressman from Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1991.

While on Capitol Hill, Gray served as House majority whip, chair of the Democratic Caucus and the House Budget Committee, and was a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

He is also a former faculty member of St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, N.J., and Temple University in Philadelphia.

Rockwell’s stock closed at $41 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, down 37.5 cents a share from Tuesday.