University Identity
Editorial Style Guide
General guidelines about editorial style
This guide is intended as a reference for members of the University community to help ensure accuracy, clarity, and consistency in print and online publications. Reflecting the long-standing practice of University Marketing and Communications, the guide draws from University history, traditions, and conventions. Grounded in professionally regarded sources such as The Chicago Manual of Style, the guide also reflects the practices of many of Rochester’s peer universities. Publications produced by our office follow the style guide.
The guide is not meant to govern academic publications or everyday internal communications, such as email messages, syllabi, class or department handouts, and other materials. Its purpose is to help members of the University community be consistent in communicating about the University’s mission, achievements, programs, and goals among broader internal and external audiences.
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University Identity
Nearby Community
Mount Hope Cemetery (but Mt. Hope Avenue) College Town Brooks Crossing the South Wedge the Genesee River Genesee Valley Park the Greater Rochester Metropolitan Area includes Monroe, Livingston, Ontario, Orleans,…
Campuses
River Campus Arts, Sciences & Engineering Warner School of Education Simon Business School Medical Center School of Medicine and Dentistry School of Nursing Strong Memorial Hospital Golisano Children’s Hospital Wilmot…
Other Units
Memorial Art Gallery Centennial Sculpture Park Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Academic Divisions
Arts, Sciences & Engineering the College School of Arts & Sciences Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences (Note: Arts, Sciences & Engineering, the School of Arts & Sciences, and…
The University of Rochester
Capitalize “University” when it refers to the University of Rochester. The use of “Rochester” to refer to the University of Rochester is acceptable when the reference is clear. Compare: “He…
A
The academic unit comprises undergraduate and graduate programs. Its units include the College (the academic and cocurricular programs for undergraduates), the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and the…
Located at the Medical Center. Kornberg Building is acceptable on second reference or in communications where the context is clear.
Residence hall located in Jackson Court on the River Campus.
Do not replace the conjunction “and” with an ampersand in text, unless the ampersand is used in an official name. Bausch & Lomb Hall Ampersands can be used in decorative…
Located in the Medical Center.
Alumni and alumnus are the preferred plural and singular terms of alumni of any gender. The feminine terms—alumna (singular) and alumnae (plural)—may be used in the context of the publication…
Located inside Goergen Athletic Center on the River Campus. Home site for University intercollegiate basketball and volleyball, with permanent seating for 2,200. Palestra is acceptable on first reference.
See also Black.
Admissions is always plural when referring to the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid. Capitalize as part of the full, official name; lowercase otherwise. (Note: each academic unit of the…
Use lowercase unless the title precedes the name. Rocky Yellowjacket, official mascot; Official Mascot Rocky Yellowjacket
An academic year straddles two calendar years. Drop the first two digits of the second year and connect with an en-dash. 2015–16
Located on the South Campus.
Capitalize when referring to offices in the division of the University overseen by the chief financial officer; lowercase in generic use. Do not abbreviate.
Use full caps and no periods for acronyms and initialisms, with the exceptions noted in this style guide. In general, do not use acronyms on first reference for University units,…
Academic subjects are not capitalized unless they form part of a department name or an official course name or are themselves proper nouns (for example, English, Latin).
Names of departments are capitalized only when using the full formal name, or when the department name is the proper name of a nationality, people, or race. (Do not abbreviate…
In most editorial uses, lowercase the names of academic degrees, whether in full or as generic terms: bachelor of arts, bachelor of science; master of arts, master of science; doctor…
B
Residence hall located on the River Campus.
Capitalize building names. See individual entries for how to refer to them. In most editorial uses, it’s acceptable to omit words like “hall,” “building,” and other descriptions when the context…
The University is served by two bookstores. The Barnes & Noble bookstore located at College Town serves the River Campus and the Medical Center. The Eastman School bookstore is located…
Capitalize the complete, formal name when referring to the governing body of the University; lowercase otherwise. A list of trustees can be found here. The Board of Trustees; the trustees; the…
Acceptable as a reference to the Larry and Cindy Bloch Alumni and Advancement Center when the context and reference are clear.
Black
The word Black should be capitalized when used to describe the racial, ethnic, and cultural identity of people of African origin. In describing the experience of people in the United…
Academic building located on the River Campus. Use the ampersand.
C
Residence hall located on the River Campus.
Academic building located on the River Campus.
Capitalize when referring to a University graduation exercise. Note: each unit of the University has its own commencement exercises. There is no “University Commencement.”
comma
University style uses the comma preceding the “and” in a series, also known as the serial comma or the Oxford comma. Please check all copy for spelling, grammar, and consistency…
In July 2023, the University completed its purchase of College Town from CT Rochester, LLC, bringing the 312,000-square-foot, mixed-use complex under local ownership for the first time since its opening…
The University comprises six major academic units that include seven schools: Arts, Sciences & Engineering; the Eastman School of Music; the School of Medicine and Dentistry; the School of Nursing;…
Capitalize “College” when referring to the principal undergraduate unit of Arts, Sciences & Engineering. When used in text, lowercase “the” and capitalize “College.” Use of “the College” is acceptable on…
coed
May be used as an adjective as an abbreviation of coeducational, meaning the education of both sexes at the same institution. Do NOT use as a noun to refer to…
Current practice (2015) calls for identifying the class years of alumni and students with a two-digit reference to the class to which they belong, followed by an initial indicating the…
Residence hall located in Hill Court on the River Campus.
For external offices, defer to the preference of the office holder and the organization under discussion, otherwise use “chair.”
chair
For internal offices, chair is generally preferred.
Located on the River Campus.
Located on the South Campus.
The outdoor sculpture park is located at the Memorial Art Gallery.
Located on the River Campus; administrative, faculty, and PhD offices of the Simon Business School
D
Residence hall located in the Fraternity Quad on the River Campus.
Located in the Fraternity Quad on the River Campus, the house is home to programs designed to celebrate and raise awareness of the Black experience.
Dining hall located in the Frederick Douglass Commons.
Hyphenate when used as a verb. She double-majors in political science and statistics. She is a double major in political science and statistics.
Use doctoral as an adjective and doctorate as a noun.
division
Capitalize as part of a full official name; lowercase otherwise.
Academic building located on the River Campus.
See academic departments
Located at the Medical Center.
Residence hall located on the South Campus.
dates
Follow the guidelines in the Chicago Manual. A few general guidelines include: The names of days and months are capitalized and are spelled out in full in most editorial uses. When…
data
Treat “data” as a plural noun and combine it with a plural verb when referring to the research meaning of the word.
Dining hall located in the Susan B. Anthony Halls on the River Campus. The center includes Danforth Fresh Food Company, a residential restaurant that features made-to-order meals.
E
Names of endowed chairs are always capitalized, whether accompanied by a personal name or not. Use the full title on first reference. Jane Smith, the Mary R. Jones Distinguished Professor…
An en-dash is used to connect continuing or inclusive numbers, replacing the word “to” in dates, times, or reference numbers. It is also used instead of a hyphen in compound…
Emeritus is an honorary rank bestowed on some retired University faculty. Not every retired faculty member has emeritus status, so do not use the terms interchangeably. Use the construction “professor…
Em-dashes are used to denote sudden changes in sentence structure. They are also used (instead of commas) to set off an explanation or emphasis. Joan—despite her brother’s warning—entered the dark…
Spell without a hyphen in all uses. [Note: this is a departure from the conventions spelled out in the Chicago Manual (7.76).]
Located on Mt. Hope Campus. Use the ampersand.
May be referred to as the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences or the Hajim School, depending on the context and the audience.
Located in the Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center on the River Campus. Offices of Athletics and Recreation, multipurpose rooms, fitness center, weight rooms. May be referred to as Hajim Gym,…
Not “Theater.” Located on the Eastman Campus.
May be shortened to Eastman on second reference. Do not abbreviate to ESM in formal writing.
Located at the Medical Center.
Located at the Medical Center.
Located in downtown Rochester, the campus includes the Eastman School of Music, Eastman Theatre, Eastman’s East Wing, Messinger Hall, the Eastman Student Living Center, Miller Center, and the Sibley Music…
F
Located on the River Campus. Home to the Paul J. Burgett Intercultural Center and the Genesee Room (a formal and informal dining area).
Capitalize as part of a full official name; lowercase otherwise.
An addition to the School of Nursing.
The chartered transportation service operates a shuttle service across and between campuses for students, faculty, and staff. Note: First Transit operates “shuttles”; the Monroe County’s Regional Transit Service (RTS), which…
Located in the Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center on the River Campus. 12,000-square-foot indoor playing surface covered by artificial turf, with one-eighth-mile running track around the perimeter.
Capitalize as part of a full official name; lowercase otherwise.
fellow
When referring to an academic or societal honor bestowed by scholarly societies and scholarship organizations, lowercase except in formal settings. a postdoctoral fellow; a research fellow; a Nieman Fellow; a…
Located on the River Campus. 5,000-seat, concrete-and-brick stadium with artificial turf and lights.
“faze” is a verb meaning to disturb or disconcert. “phase” is a noun meaning a step or part of process, or is a verb meaning to carry out in stages.…
Residence hall located in Hill Court on the River Campus.
Housed in the Genesee Room in Frederick Douglass Commons.
G
Located in Dewey Hall.
Graduate student residences located on the South Campus.
She graduated from the University. She graduated from college. NOT: She graduated the University. She graduated college. She was graduated from the University.
Capitalize as part of a full official name; lowercase otherwise.
Pediatric health care center located at the Medical Center.
Located adjacent to the Medical Center.
Residence hall located on the River Campus.
Dining facility located inside the Frederick Douglass Commons on the River Campus. The dining options include the Faculty Club.
gender
Consider alternatives to language that emphasizes a person’s sex that implies certain occupations are the exclusive domain of men or women, or that identifies males as an archetype for the…
May be applied to both men and women as a description of sexual orientation, but take the personal preference of the individual being described into account. (Only refer to sexual…
Academic building located on the River Campus. Offices, classrooms, and laboratories of the Department of Chemical Engineering; office of the Department of Biomedical Engineering; laboratories of the Department of Mechanical…
Residence hall located in the Susan B. Anthony Halls on the River Campus.
Residence hall located in the Susan B. Anthony Halls on the River Campus.
Residence hall located in Hill Court on the River Campus.
H
hyphen
Follow the guidelines in the Chicago Manual. (The manual’s hyphenation table includes examples of most uses of hyphens. A few general guidelines include: Nationality combinations: ethnicity combinations should be written without a…
Academic building located on the River Campus. Departments of Mathematics and Statistics; Office of Research and Project Administration.
Academic building located on the River Campus. Departments of Biology, Chemistry, and Earth and Environmental Sciences; a greenhouse complex. Also home to Hubbell Auditorium and Lander Auditorium.
Located on the River Campus. The building houses a 300-seat auditorium for lectures, meetings, films, and conferences.
Academic building located on the River Campus. Offices, classrooms, and laboratories of the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.
Residence hall located on the River Campus.
Hispanic
Acceptable as a noun or adjective referring to people who trace their ancestry to Latin America, Spain, or Portugal. (Only refer to ethnic or racial distinctions when such references are…
A convenience store located on the first floor of Susan B. Anthony Halls.
Complex of residence halls located on the north end of the River Campus.
Home to the School of Nursing. Located at the Medical Center.
he/she
Reword sentences to avoid the awkward construction of “he or she,” “his or her,” or “he/she.”
Academic building located on the River Campus. Offices of the Departments of Economics and Political Science; Wallis Institute.
Acceptable for the Edmund A. Hajim School of Engineeing & Applied Sciences when the context and the reference are clear.
I
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Located on the Mt. Hope Campus, the building is the official residence of the president.
Named in recognition of the late G. Robert Witmer Jr. ’59, former University trustee and board chair. Always use the title in full, capitalizing each word, on first reference. Note…
Located on the River Campus. The campus center’s facilities include student organization offices, and meeting and performing facilities, such as the Stackel Room; Hartnett Art Gallery; the May Room; Havens…
Located at the Medical Center and part of UR Medicine, the institute is the main institutional home for clinical care and research involving cancer at the University. The institute encompasses…
Academic building located on the River Campus. Offices, seminar rooms, and laboratory facilities for the Institute of Optics.
Residence hall located on the River Campus.
Follow the Chicago Manual’s conventions (7.76) for references to the internet, the web, and other references to electronic resources.
Can be used for the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development on first reference.
Located on the River Campus. University executive offices; Office of Admissions and Financial Aid for Arts, Sciences & Engineering.
Residence hall located on the South Campus.