Language
Academic Terms and Usage
Alums and Emeriti
Use bias-free terms whenever possible, e.g., alum/alums, except in formal, historical names such as the Alumnus of the Year Award. There is no bias-free option for emerita and emeritus. Various terms are outlined below.
alumnus (singular masculine) / alumni (plural, collective body of men and women) — use alum/alums if possible
alumna (singular feminine) / alumnae (plural feminine) — refers to women only; use alum/alums if possible
alum/alums — bias-free option; use whenever possible
emerita (singular feminine adjective, women only) / emeritus (singular noun, men or women) / emeriti (plural noun)
professor emeritus (singular masculine adjective) / professor emerita (singular feminine adjective) — Professor Emeritus of English John Smith, Professor Emerita of Mathematics Mary Jones
professors emeriti (plural adjective) — The department’s faculty includes six professors emeriti.
chancellor emeritus (singular masculine adjective) / chancellor emerita (singular feminine adjective) — The chancellor emeritus was honored. Chancellor Emerita Carol T. Christ reflected on her tenure.
Awards and Honors
- the Nobel Prize in physics/Nobel laureate/Nobel Prize winner. (Note the capitalization styles.)
- the Guggenheim Fellowship/the fellowship/the Guggenheim fellow/the fellow
- Alumnus (or Alumna) of the Year (formal name, not bias-free)
See Alums and Emeriti on this page. - the John Jones Chair in Russian Literature/the Jones Chair/the endowed chair/the chair
- Vladimir Nabokov, the Jones Professor of Russian Literature/the chairholder
- the Mary Smith Distinguished Professorship in Anthropology/the Smith Distinguished Professorship/the distinguished professorship/the professorship
- John Doe, the Smith Distinguished Professor of Anthropology/the professorship holder
- MacArthur Fellowship/MacArthur “genius” award or “genius” grant/MacArthur fellow
Class Years
We do not list undergraduate degrees (B.S., B.A.), only graduate degrees.
UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE
Jane M. Doe ’62; John N. Doe of the Class of 1955 or the Class of ’55
GRADUATE DEGREE
Jane M. Doe M.B.A. ’90; John Smith Ph.D. ’39
MORE THAN ONE CAL DEGREE
John N. Doe ’55, M.B.A. ’60
NAME WITH SUFFIX
John Doe Jr. ’60 (A comma does not precede Jr. or Sr.)
CAL GRAD WITH A NON-CAL M.D.
Phillip M. Levin ’60, M.D.
PUNCTUATION OF MULTIPLES
The Classes of the ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s will hold a reunion.
PAIRS
If using bold typeface to emphasize the names, bold “and” within the pairs.
- John ’56 and Jane ’58 Harrison
- Bob and Ann ’02 Chavez (Only Ann is an alum.)
- Bob ’02 and Ann ’02 Chavez (Bob and Ann graduated the same year.)
PARENT YEARS
Parent years refer to when a Cal parent's child graduated. When parent years are required, e.g., donor listings, list the parent's name, followed by the letter P with a period and the child's grad year. If the parent is an alum, list their grad year first, then a comma, then the parent year.
- Erin Walker P. '10 (Erin's child graduated in 2010.)
- Eric Walker ’92, P. ’10 (Eric graduated in 1992, and his child in 2010.)
If a parent has several children who went to Cal, use the P once.
- Dennis Wong P. ’97, ’01, ’04
For couples, place parent year(s) after each first name or first name/middle initial. Use a comma to separate a parent's own class year from the parent year.
- William ’67, P. ’02 and Maria ’67, P. ’02 Robinson (Both William and Mary graduated in 1967 and have a child who graduated in 2002.)
- Victor R. M.B.A. ’67, P. ’02 and Camilla P. ’02 Jones (Victor received an M.B.A. in 1967, and he and Camilla have a child who graduated in 2002.)
For names that include three words in the name, place parent year after full name of both couples’ names. This can get confusing!
- Nikki Wu McClain P. ’11 and Charlie J. McClain ’69, P. ’11
Include a short explanation in print and digital pieces that says the “P.” refers to Cal parents. This footnote or key should not distract from other design elements.
PRIOR TO 1930
Write out the full year for alums who graduated before 1930 to avoid confusion about which century the degree was awarded.
- Incorrect: Distinguished alums include former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren '12, J.D. ’14.
- Correct: Distinguished alums include former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren 1912, J.D. 1914.
CAPITALIZATION
Capitalize Class when referring to a specific class.
- Class of 1984
NOT YET GRADUATED
Include class years for people who have not yet graduated. It is advised that you ask individuals what class year to list. Use CADS to get the graduation year for lists (honor rolls and the like) when asking each member of a group is not feasible.
Courses
SEQUENCE
In a sequence of courses with a single title and course description, repeat the complete number of the sequence.
- Incorrect: Chemistry 12A-B-C or Chemistry 12ABC
- Correct: Chemistry 12A-12B-12C
CAPITALIZATION
Capitalize a course’s official designation, but do not italicize. Enclose the description in quotes if it differs from the official designation.
- Professor Jones teaches Biology 101, “An Introduction to Biology.”
Degrees and Affiliations
CAPITALIZATION
Do not cap academic degrees, e.g., bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, when referred to in general terms.
- She earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
INITIALIZATION
Initialisms for degrees should be as follows with no spaces:
- A.B., B.A., B.S., C.Mult., C.Sing., D.Eng., Dr.P.H., Ed.D., J.D., J.S.D., LL.M., M.A., M.A.T., M.Arch., M.B.A., M.C.P., M.D., M.Eng., M.F., M.F.A, M.I.D.S, M.J., M.L.A., M.L.I.S., M.P.H., M.P.P., M.S., M.S.W., O.D., Ph.D.
Licenses and associations do not take periods:
- CPA, LCSW, AAAS, IEEE, ASLA
The trend is moving away from using periods in degrees. Whichever style you choose, be consistent within the document. Many UC Berkeley schools and colleges exclude periods from degrees.
Departments and Disciplines
CAPITALIZATION
Capitalize disciplines only when referring to specific courses or departments.
- I’m studying biostatistics, although my favorite course is Anthropology 100 in the Department of Anthropology.
In a first reference, use Department of Anthropology. You may use archaeology department or anthropology in subsequent references.
Lowercase majors and minors, but capitalize proper names as subjects.
- She majored in linguistics and minored in Asian studies.
People and Titles
See also Titles, General Style Preferences.
CHANCELLOR RICH LYONS
Name — Refer to our current chancellor as Chancellor Rich Lyons except in the most formal of circumstances, e.g., inauguration or gala invitations, in which case he prefers Chancellor Richard K. Lyons. Do not use Chancellor Rich K. Lyons.
Grad year — It’s acceptable to include Chancellor Lyons’ grad year for occasions in which it makes sense, such as an alum reunion or commencement. Do not use it in projects such as a thank-you letter, holiday card signed by the Lyons family, or donor-specific event. If you are unsure, you may email his office at chancellor@berkeley.edu or givingcomms@berkeley.edu for events managed by ERMC in UDAR.
- Chancellor Rich Lyons ’82 (most cases), Chancellor Richard K. Lyons ’82 (formal)
CAPITALIZATION
Capitalize the following titles only when immediately preceding personal names: governor, president, provost, vice chancellor, dean, chair, director, coordinator, professor.
- The governor agrees with President X, but Professor Y claims that most professors do not.
Capitalize chancellor only as a formal title before personal names: Chancellor Rich Lyons, former Chancellors Carol Christ and Robert Birgeneau. Lowercase in all other uses.
- The chancellor awarded $1 million in discretionary funds to student services.
Capitalize full titles before names. Place long titles after names as lowercased appositives.
- Vice Chancellor John Doe; Jane Doe, professor of chemistry; John Doe, vice chancellor for university development and alumni relations
- We honored Chancellor Emeritus Jane Smith.
Do not capitalize occupational titles preceding a name.
- Several people contributed to the report, including attorney James Smith.
Titles following a personal name may be capitalized in event collateral such as invitations, lists, and programs.
See Titles Used in Apposition, General Style Preferences.
Do not use Dr. in academic titles unless the professor prefers to use it in an honor roll or similar listing. Generally, the title Dr. is only used at the beginning of names of those who are medical doctors. Avoid using the abbreviation Prof.
Treatment of Campus Entities
The capitalization guidelines below cover most campus uses.
CAPITALIZATION
Lowercase common nouns, even those that refer to specific areas within the university, when used in a general sense.
- board, campus, center, college, committee, department, institute, office, program, school
- The university was founded in 1868.
- The board voted to increase tuition.
- The college will celebrate its 150th anniversary next year.
Capitalize these words only when they are part of a title.
- The College of Chemistry will celebrate its 150th anniversary next year.
- The University of California Board of Regents voted to increase tuition.
Lowercase subsequent references.
- The College of Chemistry will celebrate its 150th anniversary next year. The college relies on donor support to maintain its excellence.
For correct spelling of campus entities not listed here, visit berkeley.edu.
- Arts & Humanities
- Bancroft Library/the Bancroft
- Lowercase the in running text.
- Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive/the Berkeley Art Museum/the Pacific Film Archive/the museum/the archive/BAMPFA
- Berkeley Center for New Media
- Berkeley Engineering/College of Engineering/the college
- Berkeley Law/UC Berkeley School of Law/the school
- Berkeley School of Education/BSE/the school
- Biological Sciences/Division of Biological Sciences
- Cal Alumni Association/CAA/the alumni association/the association
- Cal Athletics/the athletics department/Intercollegiate Athletics
- Cal Performances
- Center for (not of) Latin American Studies
- Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies
- Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute/CITRIS and the Banatao Institute (second reference)
- College of Chemistry/the college
- College of Computing, Data Science, and Society/CDSS/the college
- College of Environmental Design/CED/the college
- College of Letters & Science/L&S/the college
- Connie & Kevin Chou Hall
- Ampersand is part of building’s title.
- C. V. Starr East Asian Library (note spacing)/the Starr Library/East Asian Library
- Energy Biosciences Building
- Genetics and Plant Biology Building
- Goldman School of Public Policy/the Goldman School/the school
- Graduate School of Journalism/J-School/the school
- Greek Theatre (not Theater)
- Walter A. Haas School of Business/Haas School of Business/Berkeley Haas/the business school/the school
- Walter A. Haas, Jr. Pavilion/Haas Pavilion/the pavilion
- Comma before Jr. was requested by the donor.
- Hearst Memorial Mining Building
- Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology/the Hearst Museum/the museum
- Institute of East Asian Studies
- Institute of (not for) International Studies
- International and Area Studies/IAS
- International House/I-House
- Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library
- Koshland Hall
- The Lawrence Hall of Science/the Lawrence
- University Library (for main library)/the library (when referring to a branch library)
- Life Sciences Addition/LSA
- Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences
- McCone Hall (not Earth Sciences Building)
- Morrison Library (not the Morrison Reading Room or Morrison Room)
- Physical Sciences
- Rausser College of Natural Resources/Rausser College/the college (do not use RCNR)
- School of Information/I School/the school
- School of Social Welfare/Berkeley Social Welfare/the school
- Social Sciences/the division
- Stanley Hall
- Sutardja Dai Hall
- Tan Kah Kee Hall/Tan Hall/the chemical engineering and chemistry building
- Tang Center (the building)/University Health Services/UHS (the unit)
- Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies
- Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities/the Townsend Center for the Humanities/the Townsend Center/the center
- UC Berkeley Extension/Berkeley Extension
- not University Extension or UC Extension
- UC Botanical Garden/the garden
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science/School of Optometry & Vision Science/the school
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute