Editorial style & usage guide

The following is an excerpt from the University of Arkansas editorial style guide. A complete guide can be downloaded here.

academic degrees - The University of Arkansas awards three levels of academic degrees based on the expertise and recognition that a student has attained: a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree and a doctoral degree. When using an academic degree to establish a person’s credentials in the narrative of a story, the preferred form is to spell out the name of the degree: Barbara Smith, who holds a doctorate, or Bill Jones earned a bachelor’s degree in art from the university.

 

academic departments - The colleges and schools at the University of Arkansas are divided into departments. Very often, an academic department will offer a major of the same name, but several offer additional majors and some offer no undergraduate major.

 

academic titles - In general, formal titles used before a person’s name are capitalized: Dean Dan Worrell or Chancellor Gearhart. If not used prior to a person’s name, a title is no longer being used in the formal sense and should be lowercased: Dan Worrell, dean of Walton College, or G. David Gearhart is chancellor of the Fayetteville campus.

 

Board of Trustees - The 10-member board is the governing organization for all the universities and community colleges in the University of Arkansas System. The governor appoints one trustee each year to a 10-year term. Use uppercase whenever referring to the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees; lowercase when either board or trustees is used separately: The Board of Trustees approved the plan. The trustees will meet again Tuesday.

 

college - Capitalize when it is part of the name of a specific college, such as the College of Engineering. Lowercase when it stands alone: The college offers nine majors. Colleges at the University of Arkansas: College of Education and Health Professions; College of Engineering; Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences; Honors College; J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences; Sam M. Walton College of Business; See also the schools entry and individual entries for each college.23

 

Razorback and Razorbacks - The mascot of the men’s and women’s athletic teams, it supplanted the earlier mascot, the Cardinal, in 1910. Use Razorback as the singular or as a modifier: She is a Razorback or the Razorback teams. Use Razorbacks otherwise.

The use of Lady Razorbacks as the mascot of the women’s teams was discontinued in 2008 when the women’s and men’s teams were combined into one department.

 

school - Capitalize when part of the name of a school: School of Law, Fay Jones School of Architecture. Lowercase when it stands alone: The school offers five majors. Administratively, some of the schools at the university have their own deans and answer directly to the provost while others are departments within a college and answer to the dean of the college. See individual entries for more details. Schools at the University of Arkansas: Eleanor Mann School of Nursing; Fay Jones School of Architecture; Graduate School; Graduate School of Business; School of Continuing Education and Academic Outreach (see the University of Arkansas Global Campus.); School of Human Environmental Sciences; School of Law; School of Social Work

See also the college entry above.

 

University of Arkansas - The University of Arkansas was founded in 1871 through the Morrill Land Grant Act, and the first classes were held in early 1872.

University of Arkansas should be used in full on first reference. If necessary to differentiate the University of Arkansas from other universities in the University of Arkansas System, a geographic location for the university may be used: The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, is the largest institution in the state. The geographic designation is unnecessary on second reference.