Office of Communications

Visual Identity Guidelines

Capitalization

General

Avoid the unnecessary use of capitals. Capitals are most commonly used for proper nouns, proper names and the first word in a sentence. Capitals may also be used for:

  1. Popular Names: Places and events that do not have officially designated proper names but have popular names that are the equivalent: North Dallas, Deep Ellum.
  2. Derivatives: Words that are derived from a proper noun and still depend upon it for their meaning: American, English, Orwellian.
  3. Compositions: Capitalize the principal words in the names of books, magazines, movies, plays, poems, operas, songs, radio and television programs, works of art, etc.
  • The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, is a classic American novel.
  • “I Sing the Body Electric,” by Walt Whitman, is a famous American poem.
  • “Portrait of the Artist’s Father,” by Paul Cezanne, is a fine example of his early work.

Academic Degrees

Use lowercase when using bachelor’s, master’s or doctor’s degree. See “Abbreviations and Acronyms, Academic Degrees” for additional information.

Academic Titles

Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as chancellor or chairman when they precede a name. Use lowercase elsewhere. See “Abbreviations and Acronyms, Academic Titles” for additional information.

  • Right: Chancellor Burck spoke at the meeting.
  • Wrong: Several Chancellors spoke before the Legislature.

Academic Departments

Use lowercase except for words that are proper nouns or adjectives: the computer science department, the psychology department, the English department. Capitals should be used when the department is part of the official and formal name: The University of Texas at Dallas Department of Physics.

Academic Majors

Use lowercase for majors with the exception of languages.

  • Right: She is a physics major.
  • Right: He is an English major.
  • Wrong: She is a Biology major.

Addresses

Always use figures for an address. Spell out and capitalize First through Ninth when used as a street name. Use numbers with two letters for 10th and above.

  • Right: He worked at 393 Seventh Ave.
  • Right: She worked at 435 East 85th St.

Administrative Offices

The names of departments, divisions and offices should be capitalized. Use lowercase for the words department, division or office when they stand alone.

  • Right: He works in the Office of Strategic Planning and Analysis.
  • Right: She works in strategic planning and analysis.

a.m./p.m.

Use lowercase and periods for a.m. and p.m.

Buildings

The proper name of buildings and halls should be capitalized: Green Building, Hoblitzelle Hall, Founders North.

Centers and Institutes

The formal names of centers should be capitalized but “center” used alone should be lowercase.

  • Right: The Center for Quantum Electronics has been honored.
  • Right: The center has been granted funds for additional research.
  • Wrong: The Institute is noted for cutting-edge development in that field.

Following is the correct capitalization for several centers and institutes associated with UTD:

  • Bruton Center for Development Studies
  • Callier Center for Communication Disorders
  • Carolyn Lipshy Galerstein Women’s Center
  • Cecil & Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society
  • Center for Applied Biology
  • Center for Continuing Education
  • Center for Education and Social Policy
  • Center for Holocaust Studies
  • Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Museums/French Regional American Museum Exchange
  • Center for International Accounting Development
  • Center for International Business
  • Center for Lithospheric Studies
  • Center for Quantum Electronics
  • Center for Scientific and Technical Innovations
  • Center for Structural Biology
  • Center for Systems, Communications and Signal Processing
  • Center for Telecommunications
  • Center for the Analysis of Property Rights and Innovation
  • Center for Translation Studies
  • Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies
  • Communication and Learning Center
  • Digital Forensics and Emergency Preparedness Institute
  • Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Technology
  • Institute for Interactive Arts and Engineering
  • Institute for Professional Communication
  • Intervoice Center for Automated Conversational Technologies, The
  • Morris Hite Center for Product Development and Marketing Science
  • NanoTech Institute
  • Oracle Center of Excellence for Spatial Data Management
  • Photonic Technology & Engineering Center

Classes and Courses

Classes and courses should be lowercase unless you use the specific title or the name carries a proper noun or numeral.

  • Right: I had a class in marketing.
  • Right: I am taking Research Applications in Marketing.

Committees

Capitalize the formal names of groups, commissions or committees (e.g., Jordan Commission, Strategic Enrollment Task Force and Long Range Campus Planning Committee).

Honors

Use lowercase for cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude. For Nobel laureate, capitalize Nobel not laureate.

Races

Capitalize names of races: African American, Afro-American, Caucasian, Asian, Native American. Do not capitalize black or white when referring to race. See “Diversity & Sensitivities” section for additional information.

Seasons and Semesters

Do not capitalize seasons, semesters or terms in text.

  • Right: He will begin classes during the fall semester.

Schools

The proper names of schools should be capitalized. UTD schools should be capitalized as follows:

  • Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science
  • School of Arts and Humanities
  • School of Behavioral and Brain Science
  • School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences
  • School of General Studies
  • School of Management
  • School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Student Classifications

Do not capitalize freshman, sophomore, junior or senior unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence or in a headline.

Titles - People

Formal titles are capitalized when used directly before an individual’s name.

  • Right: President George Bush delivered the speech.

Use lowercase and spell out titles when not used with an individual’s name.

  • Right: The provost delivered the speech.

The following formal titles are capitalized and abbreviated as shown when used before names outside quotations: Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., Sen. and certain military titles. Spell out all except “Dr.” when used in quotations. All other formal titles are spelled out in all uses.

Long titles should be separated from a name by commas.

  • Right: John Smith, executive director of human resources, issued the policy.

Titles - Composition

The following rules regarding capitalization, spelling, punctuation, italics, and quotation marks apply to titles mentioned in text. The rules apply to titles of all publications: books, newspapers, magazines, journals, reports, poems, stories, chapters and sections. It also applies to unpublished lectures and papers as well as other mediums such as plays, computer games, television, radio, musical and graphic work.

  • In regular title capitalization (also known as headline style), the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (because, if, that) are capitalized.
  • Articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) and prepositions (of, at), regardless of length, are lowercased unless they are the first or last word of the title or subtitle.
  • Titles and subtitles of published books, pamphlets, periodicals and newspapers are written in italics when they are mentioned in the text: The Dallas Morning News.
  • Titles of articles, features in newspapers, chapter titles, titles of short stories and selections in books are enclosed in quotation marks. They are not italicized.
  • Titles of dissertations and theses, manuscripts in collections, lectures and papers read at meetings, and photocopies of typescripts, are enclosed in quotation marks. They are not italicized.
  • Titles of motion pictures are italicized. Titles of television and radio programs are enclosed in quotes but they are only italicized if they are part of a continuing series.

University

Ironically, one of the most common mistakes in university communications is the incorrect capitalization of the word “university.” University should be capitalized when used as a formal title or at the beginning of a sentence. It should not be capitalized when it stands alone:

  • Right: The University of Texas at Dallas is in the heart of the Telecom Corridor®.
  • Right: The university is in the forefront of nanotechnology.
  • Wrong: The University offers chess scholarships.

Updated: February 19, 2008