General Academic Usage

• academic titles (See titles, academic and administrative.)

• academic years (See years, academic.)

• adviser/advisor
  "Adviser" is preferred; "advisor" is an acceptable second spelling.

• alma mater
  Use lowercase when describing the college one attended.
  Uppercase is reserved for the song; place in quotes: "Alma Mater."

• alumna, alumnae, alumni, alumnus
  alumna - singular, female
  alumnae - plural, women only
  alumni - plural, men only or men and women
  alumnus - singular, male
  alum-singular, male or female; appropriate only in informal contexts
  alums - plural, make or female, informal

• award, fellowship, scholarship
  Capitalize when used with a formal name (the Sharon Burt Memorial Scholarship). Lowercase when referring to more than one formally named award, scholarship or fellowship.

• board of directors
  Capitalize board of directors when it is part of a proper name: "the San Diego Girl Scout Council Board of Directors." Lower case when used alone or before the proper title: "the board of directors of First National Bank." The same rule applies to board of trustees, board of managers and board of regents.

• campuswide (No hyphen.)

• chair, chairman, chairwoman
  In general, use chair instead of chairman: "the department chair."
  Chairwoman or chairman may be used along with a name: "Chairwoman Sally Smith" or "Chairman George Smith." Capitalize when the title precedes a name; lowercase elsewhere.

• classification of students (See students.)

• colleges and universities
  Capitalize when part of a proper name: "College of Education, College of Liberal Arts." Lowercase on second reference: "The College of Education commencement ceremony was held last week. Students at the college . . ." Do not capitalize the word "university" on its own: "I attend San Diego State University. The university . . . "
  
  A college is an independent institution of higher learning offering a course of general studies leading to a bachelor's degree in liberal arts or science or both. A university is an institution of higher learning with teaching and research facilities constituting a graduate school and professional schools that award master's degrees and doctorates and an undergraduate division that awards bachelor's degrees.

• coursework or course work (Either is acceptable.)

• degrees, academic (See also titles, academic and administrative.)
  • When mention of degrees is necessary to establish credentials, avoid an abbreviation and use instead a phrase such as "Susan Smith, who has a doctorate in philosophy." Abbreviations are acceptable in a case where many persons with degrees are being listed. Use abbreviations only after the full name of a person (never after just a last name): "Mike Jones, M.F.A."
  • Use a period after each initial: M.F.A. -- not MFA.
  • Use an apostrophe in "bachelor's degree," "a master's," etc.
  • Capitalize letters of acronyms (B.A., M.A.) but do not capitalize when spelled out (bachelor of arts, master of arts)
    B.A., bachelor's degree, bachelor of arts degree
    B.S., bachelor of science degree
    Ed.D., doctor of education
    J.D., juris doctor
    M.A., master's degree, master of arts degree or a master's
    M.B.A., master of business administration
    M.F.A., master of fine arts
    M.S., master's degree, master of science degree or a master's
    Ph.D., doctorate (See professor.)

• degrees with distinction
  Lowercase and italicize: cum laude (with praise or distinction), magna cum laude(with great praise or distinction) and summa cum laude (with highest praise or distinction).

• departments
  Do not capitalize the names of departments that begin with the subject: "chemistry department" or "history department."
  
  However, "Department of Chemistry" is considered a proper name and both words are capitalized. Lowercase on second reference: "Department of Chemistry," then, "the department." Always capitalize words that are proper nouns, such as "English department" or "Russian department."
  
  

  Not: "I'm studying Chemistry." But: "I'm studying chemistry."	Not: "I'm studying english." But: "I'm studying English."
  Not: "I'm in the History Department." But: "I'm in the history department."	Not: "I'm in the English Department." But: "I'm in the English department."
  Not: "I'm in the department of history." But: "I'm in the Department of History."  (Do capitalize a proper name.)

• division (upper division, lower division)
  No need for hyphen in adjectival use of "upper division" and "lower division" because the meaning is obvious, just as it is in "high school courses."

• dormitory, dorm
  Use "residence hall" instead.

• Dr. (See professor.)

• first-year student
  "First-year student(s)" is an acceptable alternative to "freshman" or "freshmen."

• fraternities, sororities
  The full, formal name should be used on first reference: Alpha Theta Epsilon. Abbreviations are acceptable on second reference, but avoid nicknames such as TauDelts. A member is a member, never a brother or sister. In reference to a fraternity's or sorority's building, the word house should be capitalized when it follows the name of the organization: Alpha Theta Epsilon House; fraternity house. (See list of SDSU fraternities and sororities.)

• freshman, freshmen (See also first-year student.)

• grade point average
  In general, spell out on first reference, then use "GPA," not "G.P.A."

• grades
  Use a letter grade with no quotation marks and no apostrophes when referring to more than one letter grade:
  "He received a B in history."
  "She earned two As and three Bs on her report card."

• honors, honors program (See also degrees with distinction and SDSU-Specific Guidelines: Special Programs and Centers - Honors Council.)

• interim
  Lowercase in all cases. An interim job title in academia is a position to which a person is appointed between the times an incumbent of a position steps down until a new person is hired to permanently fill that position.

• letter grades (See grades.)

• majors, academic
  Lowercase unless a proper noun: "history," "East Asian studies," "English," "international affairs."

• NCAA Division I (Use Roman numerals.)

• president Capitalize president only as a formal title before a name: "President Stephen L. Weber." Use lowercase in all other cases: "There will be a reception at the president's home." (See also titles, academic and administrative.)

• professor Reserve the use of "Dr." for people in the medical field. Use "professor" for anyone with a Ph.D. Basic academic ranks include assistant professor, associate professor and professor. Capitalize these titles as a formal title before a name: "Assistant Professor Fred Smith is teaching that class." Lowercase in all other cases: "Jane Doe is an associate professor of art." (See also titles, academic and administrative.)

• residence hall
  Not "dormitory" or "dorm."

• seasons (See semester.)

• semester
  Seasons/semester: use lower case ("fall, fall semester, fall 2003 semester, spring break...")
  There is no comma between semester and year: "spring semester 1999."
  In general, use "semester" instead of "term."

• students
  A student's classification should generally be noted on first reference. Classifications (freshman or first-year student, sophomore, junior, senior, lower division, upper division) should be lowercase except when used at the beginning of a sentence. Use "an" SDSU student rather than "a" SDSU student. Use "international student" rather than "alien" or "foreign" student.

• term (See semester.)

• titles, academic and administrative (See also adviser/advisor, chair, chairman, chairwoman, degrees, Dr., president, professor, students.)
  • Capitalize academic titles directly preceding a name but not after:

    Before		After
    Chancellor Charles Reed or Chancellor Reed		Charles Reed, chancellor of the CSU system
    history Professor David Christian or Professor Christian		David Christian, professor of history
    President Stephen L. Weber or President Weber		Stephen L. Weber, president of San Diego State University
    Dean Gail Naughton or Dean Naughton		Gail Naughton, dean of the College of Business Administration

  • In text, if the last name only is used, do not capitalize the academic title:
    • The senate made a recommendation based on a report by professor of literature Alcosser.
  • In text, titles used alone in place of a name should be lowercased:
    • the dean of the Division of Undergraduate Studies . . .
    • the provost of SDSU . . .
    • professor, lecturerer, coordinator, emeriti faculty . . .
  • Titles used in lists may be capitalized, even when they follow a name:
    • Joanne Lobato, Associate Professor
    • Ed Bulinski, Director of Budget and Planning
• Academic degrees: If the mention of a degree is necessary to establish someone's credentials, avoid using an abbreviation such as Ph.D. and instead use a phrase such as "John Doe, who has a doctorate in psychology." Use abbreviations such as B.A., B.S., M.A., LL.D. and Ph.D. only when the need to identify many individuals by degree on first reference would make the preferred form cumbersome. Use only after a full name and never after a last name only. Set off by commas when used after a name: "John Doe, Ph.D., spoke briefly."
• Reserve the use of "Dr." for people in the medical field. Use "professor" for anyone with a Ph.D. (See professor.)
• Lowercase occupational or descriptive titles:
  • novelist Toni Morrison
  • historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (Note: no comma before "junior.")

• University, college e(See Colleges and universities.)

• years, academic
  Use the following:

1996-97
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02

Do not use 1996-1997, 1996/97, 1996/1997, 96-97, 96/97.
(See also semester, above, and years in General Guidelines.)