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Reference: UW Editorial Style and Standards
http://www.washington .edu/marketing/university-bra nd-guidelines/editorial-style-andstandards!
Capitalization
In general, avoid unnecessary capitalization. This applies to things such as boards of directors
(Joe Husky is on the board of directors at Unknown Corp.), department names (history
department, art department) and titles when they follow the names (Phyllis Wise, UWprovost).
The following guidelines may be helpful in determining capitalization.
academic season and term
Lowercase academic terms including instances where the term is preceded with the season or
followed by the year: fall term, winter term 2004.
departments, colleges, programs and centers
Capitalize the formal name of an academic department: the Department of Communication,
College of Arts & Sciences. Lowercase the informal name (except for words that are proper
nouns or adjectives): the geography department, the law school, the Italian department.
Capitalize “program” when it is part of a name: Student Research Program, K-lA Outreach
Program, Business Law Program, Latin American Studies Program.
committees, boards and leadership terms
Capitalize only when part of a formal name: the Arboretum and Botanical Garden Committee.
Lowercase board of directors unless it’s part of a proper name: UWAlumniAssociation Board of
Directors. The board of directors will discuss the issue.
places, buildings, thoroughfares and monuments
Capitalize: Suzzallo & Allen Library, Mary Gates Hall, The Quad, The Core, The Ave and
University Bridge.
Washington state
Lowercase state when referencing the state of Washington. Use state of Washington or
Washington state when it is necessary to distinguish the state from the District of Columbia.
(Washington State is the name of a university in Pullman, Washington.)
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UW Tacoma style guide
http ://www.tacoma.uw.ed u/news/style-guidelines
job titles
Capitalize job titles that fall immediately before a name. Do not capitalize job titles if they fall
after the name or if the person’s name is not given. Capitalize the name of departments that
are part of job titles.
•
Chancellor Kenyon Chan spoke at the meeting.
•
Cedric Howard, vice chancellor of Student & Enrollment Services, gave a presentation.
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The president will attend the next meeting.
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The vice chancellor brought cookies.
chancellor
Use the chancellor’s full name on the first reference in narrative text. Use “Chancellor Chan” or
“chancellor” for all other references. Do not capitalize “chancellor” unless the name goes
immediately after it.
•
Chancellor Kenyon Chan
•
Chancellor Chan
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Kenyon Chan, chancellor, spoke at the meeting.
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The chancellor introduced the speaker.
faculty
The word “faculty” is a collective noun and refers to a group of teachers or professors. It should
not be used to denote an individual teacher or professor.
Capitalize the titles “professor,” “associate professor,” and “assistant professor” only when
used directly before a name. Lowercase a job title if it comes after a name or is used without a
name. Lowercase adjectives such as “history” when used before titles.
Instructors are “adjunct faculty members.”
university
Do not capitalize when used without the entire proper name.
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Which university do you attend?
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The University of Washington Tacoma is a terrific school.
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It’s the university of choice for many.
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The university policy does not allow students to appeal their grades after one quarter.
University of Washington, UW
Use “University of Washington” or “UW” to refer to the entire, three-campus university. When
specifying the Seattle campus, use “University of Washington Seattle” or “UW Seattle.”
***
Reference: King County Editorial Style Guide
http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/styleguide.aspx
Capitalize job titles used directly before a person’s name: Treatment Plant Operator George
McCartney, Environmental Planner Paul Starkey.
Except for business correspondence when referring to specific individuals, lowercase and spell
out job titles when they are used alone or follow a person’s name: Sue Chin, transportation
planner, spoke at the meeting. The transportation planner spoke at the meeting.
If a title applies to only one person in an organization, include the word the if the title or
person’s name is between commas:The transit general manager, Aretha Turner, addressed the
convention. Or Aretha Turner, the transit general manager, addressed the convention. Use this
construction to set off a long title from a name: Tina Franklin, the manager of the long-range
service planning project, said
Reference: Capitalization Rules
http://www.grammarbook.corn/punctuation/capital. asp
Rule 4. Capitalize titles when they are used before names, unless the title is followed by a
comma. Do not capitalize the title if it is used after a name or instead of a name.
Examples:
The president will address Congress.
Chairman of the Board William Bly will preside at the conference.
The chairman of the board, William Bly, will preside.
The senators from Iowa and Ohio are expected to attend.
Also expected to attend are Senators Buzz James and Eddie Twain.
The governors, lieutenant governors, and attorneys general called for a special task force.
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Governor Fortinbrass, Lieutenant Governor Poppins, and Attorney General Dalloway will
attend.
Rule: Capitalize a title when used as a direct address even when the person is not named.
Examples:
Will you be holding a press conference, Madame President?
Please give us your opinion of this latest development, Senator.
We need your response quickly, Mr. President.
We need your response quickly, President Obama.
Will you help me with my homework, Dad?
***
Reference: Capitalizing People’s Titles and the Names of Political
Entitieshttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/capitals.htm
One of the most frequently asked questions about capitalization is whether or not to capitalize
people’s job titles or the names of political or quasi-political entities. Most writing manuals
nowadays seem to align themselves with the tendency in journalistic circles: less is better.
When a title appears as part of a person’s name, usually before the name, it is
capitalized: Professor Farbman (or Professor of Physics Herschel Farbman), Mayor Perez,
U.S. Secretary of State Cohn Powell. On the other hand, when the title appears after the name,
it is not capitalized: Herschel Farbman, professor of history; Eddie Perez, mayor of the city of
Hartford; Juan Carlos, king of Spain. Although we don’t capitalize “professor of history” after
the individual’s name, we would capitalize department and program names when they are used
in full*: “He worked in the Department of Behavioral Sciences before he started to
teach physics.” (We do not capitalize majors or academic disciplines unless they refer to a
language, ethnic group, or geographical entity: Roundbottom is an economics major, but he
loves his courses in French and East European studies.)
The capitalization of words that refer to institutions or governmental agencies, etc. can well
depend on who is doing the writing and where or from what perspective. For instance, if I were
writing for the city of Hartford, doing work on its charter or preparing an in-house document on
appropriate office decor, I could capitalize the word çjjy in order to distinguish between this
city and other cities. “The City has a long tradition of individual freedom in selecting
wallpapers.” If I were writing for the College of Wooster’s public relations staff, I could write
about the College’s new policy on course withdrawal. On the other hand, if I were writing for a
newspaper outside these institutions, I would not capitalize those words. “The city has
revamped its entire system of government.” “The college has changed its policy many times.”
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We don’t capitalize words such as city, state, federal, national, etc. when those words are used
as modifiers “There are federal regulations about the relationship of city andstate
governments. Even as nouns, these words do not need to be capitalized: “The city of New York
is in the state of New York” (but it’s New York city). Commonly accepted designations for
geographical areas can be capitalized: the Near East, the American South, the North End (of
Hartford), Boston’s Back Bay, the Wild West. Directions are not capitalized unless they become
part of the more or less official title of a geographical entity: “He moved from south Texas
to South Africa.”
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