The University’s Office of Strategic Communications is charged with setting University editorial style standards and keeping publications consistent so that they present a positive image of the University. Editorial style helps all divisions, departments, and offices present a unified, logical picture to the public through the materials they produce. The University’s style guidelines are to be followed as much as possible in the interest of a unified University image.
As a general style guide for preparing promotional communications, use the most recent edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. For points of style specific to the University, please reference the University’s Editorial Standards. The information below was taken from that manual because of its relevance to departments and centers in the College of the Liberal Arts.
Campus Name
When you refer to a Penn State campus in running text, do so as listed below. Use the full name on first mention and the partial name on subsequent mention.
- Penn State University Park; University Park campus
College Name
First reference: College of the Liberal Arts
Subsequent references: the college or Penn State Liberal Arts
Possessive form: College of the Liberal Arts’
Please do not refer to the college as CLA or LA when communicating externally.
College name within the University:
Uppercase College when used as part of the proper name of a college. Lowercase college when used as the unofficial name of a college or when used alone, whether it refers to a specific college or not.
- She enrolled in the College of the Liberal Arts.
- Here is an update on the College of the Liberal Arts’ response.
- The college offered a number of history courses.
Academic Departments
Capitalize when used as a formal name: Department of Economics
Lowercase as an informal name: the economics department or the department
Abbreviations for departments should only be used to describe courses.
- ECON 001 Intro to Economics
- AFAM 100 Intro to African American Studies
Administrative Units
Capitalize the formal name of the office, but lowercase when used informally.
- Julie had an appointment in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
- Michael was late leaving the diversity and inclusion office.
Academic/Administrative Titles
Titles are capitalized when they immediately precede names and are used as part of the names.
- Associate Professor Eva Benner
Titles are lowercased if they follow names or are used to help describe or identify people further.
- Sharon Childs, lecturer in applied linguistics,
If the person holds a named professorship or chair, such as an endowed professorship, capitalize the title whether it precedes or follows the name.
- Suresh Canagarajah, Erle Sparks Professor in Applied Linguistics
Reminders:
- Instructor in, not instructor of
- Professor emeritus, not emeritus professor
- Professor of, not professor in; but professorship in
- Research associate in, not research associate of
Academic Degrees
Spelled out: associate degree; baccalaureate degree, bachelor’s degree; master’s degree; doctoral degree, doctorate; bachelor of arts, master of science, doctor of philosophy
Abbreviate degrees with periods and without spaces: B.A.; M.S.; Ph.D.; M.B.A., etc.
Plural of B.A., M.A., Ph.D., and other abbreviations with periods: B.A.’s; M.A.’s; Ph.D.’s, etc.
Academic Year
fall semester, spring semester, summer session—no caps when used to refer to the time of the academic year except Maymester, which is a short session between spring and summer. Use summer session when you’re referring to the time of academic year. When you’re referring to the sessions themselves (the six- and eight-week sessions), use Summer Sessions (capped), as that is the name for Penn State’s summer programs.
The word commencement is lowercased, as is the name of the semester (spring commencement, fall commencement).
Ampersand (&)
Use ampersands (&) only in charts, tables, or lists of companies, where the ampersand is part of the company’s official name. It can also be utilized for the term Q & A. Outside of these exceptions utilize “and” in all text.
Majors
Capitalize the names of majors or minors when used as specific programs offered at Penn State. Do not capitalize the field of study. Do not capitalize the words major, minor, option, or program, only the program name if appropriate.
- She was studying anthropology at Penn State.
but - She majored in Anthropology at Penn State.
Penn State Usage
Utilize Penn State to refer to the University in all external communications. The full name (The Pennsylvania State University) is reserved for formal documents, legal contracts and some mailing addresses. The full name also is used in the formal version of the statement of nondiscrimination. It may be used in some faculty listings and on formal certificates, and in any rare case where confusion might result from using the communicative name.
In text, the words Penn State are separate and both should be capitalized. Penn State may be referred to as the University on subsequent mention, but only if you are referring to the entire institution, not just a single campus, college, or other location.
Do not refer to the University as PSU.
Serial comma
Use a comma after the next-to-last item in a series.
Times of day
University style supersedes Chicago Manual style on this point. Although times of day are often spelled out in text, in most University material, the time of day is important for scheduling purposes; thus, you should use a.m. or p.m. in both text and schedule listings. Because time designations are not always on the hour, for consistency, use :00 with times that are on the hour. Note that a.m. and p.m. are not capitalized. To avoid confusion, use noon and midnight rather than 12:00 p.m. (noon) and 12:00 a.m. (midnight). Add EST or EDT after a.m. or p.m. depending on the time of the year.