Capitalization

General rules

1. Capitalize only when necessary. The more words you capitalize, the more you complicate your text.
2. Capitalize the formal (complete) names of university colleges and departments:
   • College of Arts and Letters
   • Comptroller’s Office
   • Office of the President
   • The W. A. Franke School of Business (always include The and W. A. has a space between letters)
3. Do not capitalize university unless used within a complete, formal title:
   • Northern Arizona University offers courses in a variety of disciplines through the Grand Canyon Semester.
   • The university partners with Grand Canyon National Park to offer courses in the field.
4. Use lowercase for informal names of departments:
   • financial aid office
   • the college
   • liberal arts
5. Use lowercase for generic terms that precede or follow plural proper nouns:
   • San Francisco and Beaver streets
   • Gabaldon and Raymond halls
   • lakes Powell and Mead
6. Headings should always be in sentence case with limited exceptions where approved by University Marketing.
7. Capitalize names of events, departments, buildings, and other NAU entities only when the name appears in its full, official form as identified in the word list, NAU directory, or other official sources.
   • official: NAU Homecoming
   • unofficial: homecoming
   • official: Dean’s Office
   • unofficial: the office
   • official: Native American Cultural Center
   • unofficial: the center

See our word list for institutional standards, dictionary exceptions, and guidance on specific words not listed here.

Academic and administrative titles

1. Capitalize when the title is part of the name and directly precedes it:
   • Professor Ana Yazzie
   • Ana Yazzie, professor of communication
2. Use lowercase when the title is a descriptive tag:
   • a diligent professor, Ana Yazzie
3. Verify title(s) at the NAU directory and follow them exactly. If two titles, professor/lecturer title always comes first:
   • These rules also apply to titles such as president, provost, director, dean, chair, and other academic titles:
     • Northern Arizona University President José Luis Cruz Rivera
     • José Luis Cruz Rivera, president of Northern Arizona University
     • José Luis Cruz Rivera became president in 2021
   • Exception: Capitalize titles that follow names in formal contexts, such as lists in the front areas of reports and books (see rule 6).
4. Capitalize named chairs or professorships that include the academic title and titles such as Distinguished Professor.
5. Use lowercase for terms denoting roles, such as nurse, coach, citizen, or historian, when they precede a name.
6. When the academic degree functions as a title following the name in a formal context such as a list, capitalize or use the abbreviation:
   • Veronica Begay, Master of Arts
   • Tara Jackson, Bachelor of Science
   • Martin Rodriguez, BA
   • Silke Solies, MS
   • William Wallace Covington, PhD, Regents’ Professor
   • Charles C. Avery, Professor Emeritus
7. Lawyers of any gender can be identified by using “Esq.”:
   • Dewey Cheatham, Esq.

Academic degrees

Note: Never use the plural or plural possessive—bachelors’, masters’—in reference to degree names.

NAU degrees

Always capitalize when writing about NAU degrees, even if it’s not the entire formal title. Search for the formal degree name in the catalog and capitalize accordingly. For alumni, just capitalize their degree as told.

Formal: she graduated with a BS in Forestry
Informal: BA in Literature

Other institutions

This rule does NOT apply when writing informally about academic degrees from other institutions:

bachelor of science
Jeff earned a bachelor of science degree.

bachelor’s degree
Julie earned a bachelor’s degree in communications.

master’s degree
The university offers a master’s degree in biology.

doctoral degree
Sandra has a doctoral degree in chemistry.

Academic departments

1. Capitalize full, formal department names: Department of Geology, School of Forestry, Politics and International Affairs, History Department.
2. In running text, capitalize full titles of institutions and departments. Use lowercase for partial titles:
   • Arizona Board of Regents
   • the board, the regents
   • Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra
   • the symphony, the orchestra
   • Center for Environmental Sciences and Education
   • the center

Building and room names

1. Capitalize the official names of buildings. Use official names of campus buildings in formal campus publications. Refer to the University Building Names list. If you have to use the building number, put it in parentheses after the building name and spell out and capitalize “Building”:
   • Gabaldon Hall (Building 58)
2. Use lowercase for incomplete building names unless the word begins a sentence or is a formal name:
   • the union
   • research center
   • Bilby
3. Capitalize specially designated rooms:
   • Grand Canyon Room
   • Use lowercase when only referring to a room number in running text:
     • The meeting will be held in Performing and Fine Arts, room 210.
   • Use uppercase when listing a room in a stand-alone address:
     • Cline Library, Room 304

Course titles

Official names of academic courses are capitalized. Search the catalog for the correct course title.

• Adrian is enrolled in Mass Communication and Human Behavior.

Government references

Do not capitalize federal, state, or city unless part of an official name:

• city of Flagstaff
• state of Arizona
• federal government
• Federal Communications Commission

Grades

Use the capital letters. Add s to indicate plurals. To avoid confusion with the word as, use the apostrophe to designate the plural of the letter grade A:

A’s, Bs, Cs, etc.

Regional references

Capitalize recognized geographical regions of the country but not general directions:

Ellen, who grew up in the East, moved west after she visited Arizona.
The West Coast is beautiful.
Our campus is in northern Arizona.

Seasons

Use lowercase for seasons and derivatives unless they begin a sentence or are part of a formal name:

spring, summer, autumn, winter
wintertime, springtime
2006 Winter Olympics

Scholarships and fellowships

1. Capitalize only official names:
   • Cowden Microbiology Scholarship
   • Arizona Broadcasters Association Scholarship
2. Do not capitalize unofficial scholarship names unless they are proper nouns:
   • broadcasters scholarship
   • Cowden grant

Semesters and sessions

Do not capitalize the common names of semesters, terms, or academic sessions:

fall semester
summer session
registration
orientation

Sentence vs. title case for titles and headings

Use sentence case for all marketing materials, including headings and email subject lines. Sentence case capitalizes the first letter of the first word and proper nouns in a title—just like in a regular sentence.

Title case uses capital letters for the principal words. Articles, conjunctions, and prepositions do not get capital letters unless they start the title. Use title case for reports and documents only—not in marketing materials or email subject lines.

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UPDATE: Previous best practice required title case in email subject lines. This practice has been amended for consistency and in accordance with updated spam filtering information.

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Sentence case examples

NAU: The world looks different from here
Earn an NAU degree right where you are

Title case examples

NAU: The World Looks Different From Here
Earn an NAU Degree Right Where You Are

Student classification

Do not capitalize:

freshman
sophomore
junior
senior

Note: “undergrad” and “grad” can be used only in web menus and other cases of extreme space limitations. In all other cases, it should be spelled out as “undergraduate” and “graduate.”

Webpages

Menus: sentence case
Headers: sentence case
Buttons: sentence case
Menus: Main menu headings should be capitalized following sentence case rules. Menu subheads should be capitalized following sentence case rules unless the subhead is a continuation of the above heading.