Academic and administrative titles

Capitalize and spell out formal titles like “professor,” “chancellor,” “chair,” etc., when they precede a name: “Chancellor Mo Deghani.” Lowercase everywhere else. Never use gender-specific titles like “chairman.”

Addresses

Use the abbreviations Ave., Blvd. and St. only with a numbered address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Spell them out and capitalize them without a number: Pennsylvania Avenue. Lowercase and spell out when used with more than one street name: 10th and State streets. All similar words (alley, drive, circle, road, terrace, etc.) always are spelled out. Always use figures for an address number: 9 Morningside Circle.

Common terms

advisor — This spelling differs from AP style, which recommends “adviser.” To remain consistent with common academic usage, however, use “advisor.”

affect, effect — “Affect” as a verb means to influence: The score will affect the rankings. “Affect” as a noun is best avoided. “Effect” as a verb means to cause: He will effect many changes in the university structure. “Effect” as a noun means result: The effect was overwhelmingly positive. He miscalculated the effect of his actions. It was a law of little effect.

alum — Although commonly used when speaking informally, avoid its use in writing to avoid confusion with the chemical compound of the same name.

alumna — Refers to a singular woman who has graduated from the university. “Alumnae” is used in the plural.

alumnae — Refers to a group of women graduates.

alumnus — Refers to a singular man who has graduated from the university. “Alumni” is used in the plural.

alumni — Refers to a group of men and women graduates.

ampersand — & should be used only when part of the formal name of a company or organization. Never use as an abbreviation for “and.”

chair — The preferred term for a department chair. Do not use “chairman,” “chairwoman” or “chairperson.” Capitalize as a formal title before a name: “English and technical communication Chair Kris Swenson.” But after a name, the title is lowercase: “Dr. Kris Swenson, chair of English and technical communication.” Do not capitalize when used in reference to temporary positions, like committee chairs, etc.

course numbers and titles — Use Arabic numerals and capitalize the subject when used with a numeral: “English 1211,” Chemistry 1100,” etc. When writing about specific courses, write the formal name and capitalize: “Introduction to Chemistry,” “Introduction to Composite Materials and Structures.”

Curators’ Distinguished Professor, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor — Always capitalize. Do not capitalize the department it accompanies or the emeritus designation. Examples: “Dr Bill Fahrenholtz, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of ceramic engineering,” “Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor Diana Ahmad,” “Dr. Delbert E. Day, Curators’ Distinguished Professor emeritus of ceramic engineering.” Note that the modifier “Distinguished” is now a formal part of these titles and is retroactive. Formerly the positions were known as “Curators’ Professor” and “Distinguished Teaching Professor.”

dates — Set off the day, date and year with commas: Monday, July 5, 2021, is a federal holiday. Always use Arabic figures, without st, nd, rd or th. Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct.,Nov. and Dec. are abbreviated. Spell out all months when used with only a year: January 2021.

doctor — For faculty members who hold doctoral degrees, the courtesy title “Dr.” may be used in first reference on news releases, but not for Missouri S&T Magazine, OGS Shillelagh or department newsletter copy. On second reference, use the last name only. Do not, however, change the use of courtesy titles in direct quotes. For example, if someone is quoted as saying, “Dr. Long chairs the engineering management and systems engineering department,” do not alter the quote.

dormitory, dorm — Use “residence hall” instead.

eConnection — The name of Missouri S&T’s faculty and staff e-newsletter. A separate version, called the Student eConnection, is distributed to students.

emeritus — Designation granted to retired faculty. Never capitalized because it is not part of a formal title.

endowed chairs and professorships — Capitalize full names of endowed chairs or professorships. Capitalization of the academic specialty varies. For example: “Dr. Hu Yang, Linda and Bipin Doshi Chair of chemical and biochemical engineering.” Note that here the academic specialty is not capitalized because it is not part of the formal title. “Dr. Laura Bartlett, the Robert V. Wolf Professor in Metallurgical Engineering.” Note that here the academic specialty is capitalized because it is part of the formal title.

entitled — A right to do or to have something, not a synonym for “titled” or “called.” “The employees are entitled to receive benefits.” “The book is titled ‘The Associated Press Stylebook.’”

fellow — Capitalize if part of a formal title, such as American Society for Engineering Education Fellow.” Lowercase everywhere else.

fraternities, sororities and service organizations — Capitalize the proper names: “Lambda Chi Alpha,” “Phi Beta Kappa,” “Phi Eta Sigma.” Also capitalize words describing membership: “He is a Legionnaire, a Lion, an Odd Fellow, an Optimist, a Phi Beta Kappa and a Rotarian.” Capitalize the formal titles of officeholders when used before a name.

freshman/first-year student

gateway — The term used to describe Missouri S&T’s main website. “Missouri S&T’s gateway is www.mst.edu.” Use “website” instead of “gateway” when writing to audiences unfamiliar with the latter term.

Minerama — an annual S&T event hosted by student involvement to showcase student organizations and university resources. 

multi. In general, no hyphen is used. Multipurpose, multimillionaire.

pre, re — Do not hyphenate in “ee” combinations: reelection, reemploy, preempt, preeminent. Hyphenate re– combinations when the unhyphenated word has a different meaning: recover (regain) and re-cover (cover again); resign (quit) and re-sign (sign again).

sports identification — Missouri S&T’s sports teams compete in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) effective with the 2005-06 athletic season. Before 2005-06, the teams competed in the Mid-America

Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA). Missouri S&T’s sports teams are “the Miners.” Women’s sports teams are sometimes called “the Lady Miners.”

St. Pat’s Celebration, St. Pat’s — The official name of the weeklong celebration at Missouri S&T is “the St. Pat’s Celebration.” “St. Pat’s” is often acceptable on second and subsequent references. The annual event, held every March, usually during the week that includes St. Patrick’s Day, began in 1908. Engineering students at Missouri S&T and elsewhere consider St. Patrick to be the unofficial “patron saint of engineers.” The first student event to celebrate St. Patrick as the patron saint of engineers was held in 1903 at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

St. Pat’s Board — The student organization responsible for planning and organizing the annual St. Pat’s Celebration. It is a committee of the Missouri S&T Student Council.

Student government — Capitalize the official names of student organizations: Student Council, Council of Graduate Students, Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council.

Student organizations — Capitalize the official names of recognized student organizations (RSOs): Aerial Swing Dancing Club, Fencing Club, Student Union Board.

university — Use the lowercase “university” in the generic sense.

— “The university’s Campus Performing Arts Series will host a performance of ‘Evita’ tonight in Leach Theatre of Castleman Hall.”

university identification — Use “University of Missouri System” when referring to the central administration of all four University of Missouri campuses. On second reference, use “UM System” or “university system” when referring to the central administration of the four campuses. The four campuses are:

• Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T)
• University of Missouri-Columbia (MU)
• University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC)
• University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL)

University of Missouri Board of Curators — The official name of the governing board for the four-campus University of Missouri System. Note that “System” is not part of the board’s official name. Do not write “University of Missouri System Board of Curators.” On second reference, either “the Board of Curators” or “the curators” is acceptable.