General Academic Usage

academic titles

Capitalize titles that come directly before names, but not after.

Example: When asked by reporters, President Bob Brower had no comment on the loss of his car keys.

Bob Brower, president, had no comment on the loss of his car keys.

In the world of pop-culture, Literature Professor Karl Martin is an aficionado.

Karl Martin, literature professor, is a pop-culture aficionado.

Titles may be capitalized in a list, even when following a name.

Example: The members of the club are:

• Richie Tenenbaum, Associate Professor
• Ned Plimpton, Vice Provost
• Kara Ragland, ASB President
• Eli Cash, Journalism Chair
  

The term “Dr.” can be used to refer to professors with a Ph.D. in an academic setting. However, in general “Dr.” should be reserved for individuals in the medical field.

Lowercase occupational or descriptive titles:

Example: novelist Kurt Vonnegut, shortstop Derek Jeter, model Heidi Klum

academic years

Use full years if changing century (1999-2000).

Use only the last two numbers of the second year in consecutive years (2005-06, or 2006-07).

Do not use shortened years consecutively (06-07) or backslashes to separate years (2006/07).

alma mater

Use lowercase when referring to a school that one attended. Capitalize when referring to the song, and place in quotes – “Alma Mater.”

alumna, alumnae, alumni, alumnus

alumna – singular, female

alumnae – plural, female only

alumni – plural, male and female together or male only

alumnus – singular, male

alum – singular, male or female, used only informally

alums, plural, male and female together, used only informally

award, fellowship, scholarship

Capitalize when used in conjunction with a formal name (President’s Scholarship, Provost’s Scholarship).

Lowercase in all other uses.

chair, chairman, chairwoman

“Chair” is generally used more than chairman or chairwoman (the department chair).

Chairman or chairwoman may be used in conjunction with a name (Chairman Donald Mattingly or Chairwoman Veronica Sutton).

Capitalize when preceding a name; lowercase everywhere else.

commencement

Use Commencement instead of Graduation when referring to the actual ceremony.

coursework or course work

degrees

Capitalize the letters in acronyms (M.A., M.S., B.A., B.S.) and separate with periods.

Abbreviations include:

• B.A. (Bachelor of Arts)
• B.S. (Bachelor of Science)
• Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
• J.D. (Juris Doctor)
• M.A. (Master of Arts)
• MBA* (Master of Business Administration)
• M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts)
• M.S. (Master of Science)
• MSN* (Master of Science in Nursing)
• Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy).
  

*Note the absence of periods in MBA and MSN. Though official guidelines call for periods, the trend in industry standards is to go without.

Use an apostrophe in “bachelor’s” and “master’s,” and lowercase when referring to general degrees: bachelor’s degree in literature, master’s in sociology.

degrees with distinction

Lowercase and italicize as in: cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude.

Summa cum laude is highest distinction.

departments

Capitalize only when used as a proper name (the Department of History and Political Science) but not otherwise (the history department).

Always capitalize proper nouns as subject.

Use: I’m studying Spanish (or English, or French, etc.)

Not: I’m studying spanish.

Use: I’m in the Spanish department.

first-year student(s)

Include hyphen. Use as an acceptable alternative to “freshman” or “freshmen.”

fraternities and sororities

Capitalize and use full name upon first usage (Chi Delta Psi, Kappa Phi Kappa, Kappa Delta Epsilon). Abbreviations are acceptable on subsequent usage, but avoid nicknames (ChiDeltas). Members are “members” not “brothers” or “sisters.”

grade point average

Spell out on first reference and lowercase when written out. Do not use periods when abbreviating (GPA not G.P.A.).

grades

Do not use quotation marks or apostrophes when referring to more than one grade.

Examples: He received an A in Intro to Linguistics.

She received two As and two Bs this semester.

majors

Lowercase unless a proper name (history, English, biology, Spanish, criminal justice).

seasons and semester

Use lowercase (fall, spring semester, summer school, fall 2006).

Do not use comma to separate between semester and year (spring semester 2006).

Use “semester” instead of “term.”

students

Classification of year should be used on first reference ( sophomore Brian Fantana ) and lowercase, unless used at beginning of a sentence:

Example: Senior Sally O’Malley was named to the All-GSAC team.

Use “international student” instead of “alien” or “foreign” student.

titles

university

Capitalize only when used with proper name of school (Point Loma Nazarene University). Lowercase in all other instances (the mission of the university is stated...).

years