Style Tips

Academic degrees

Capitalize formal names of degrees, but not the area of the degree.

Examples:

• He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry.
• He earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry.

Those degree areas that read like titles — water: resources, policy, and management, for example — are lowercase too.

Generally, write out the name of the degree instead of abbreviating it. MBA is the notable exception.

• Correct: She earned her master’s degree in economics
• Incorrect: She earned her M.S. in economics.

Majors and minors

These are the same as degrees: majors and minors are not capitalized unless they are proper nouns.

Examples:  

• She is a senior majoring in water: resources, policy, and management with a minor in Spanish.
• She is a first-year cadet majoring in general engineering.

While the unviersity style allows the use of acronyms, they should be used sparingly, especially the ones that people outside your office probably don’t know.

Always attempt to find other ways to identify the subject, such as “the department,” “the organization,” “the institute,” “the school,” “the college.” Your primary goal should be clarity for the reader.  

For those times when you need to use an acronym, some guidelines:

Spell out the full name on first reference, followed by the acronym in parentheses. Do this only if the acronym appears elsewhere in your content. If you don’t use the acronym, there’s no need to point it out to readers. 

Examples:

• The researcher received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award. 
• The research uses artificial intelligence (AI).

Avoid using acronyms in the lede or page title. 

When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.  

Examples:

• Students dressed in costumes on Oct. 31.
  
• The conference is Feb. 5-9.  

Spell out the month name when using alone or with just a year.

Examples:

• The fall semester started in August.
  
• Taylor graduated in December 2018.                                                                                        
  

March, April, May, June, and July are short enough on their own and are never abbreviated.

Example: On June 23, members of the university’s Blacksburg campus came together. They will meet again in July.

In general, the formal name of a unit or program is capitalized. The informal name is not.

Examples:

• Martha Jones is a professor in the Department of History. She joined in the history department in 2000.
• Three graduate students in Virginia Tech’s Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program have been awarded a prestigious grant. This is not the first time translational biology, medicine, and health students have been nationally recognized.

AP Style for is followed for titles.  Capitalize titles when used before a name on first reference. 

Example: Virginia Tech Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation Dan Sui will speak.  

Lowercase and spell out titles after a name on first reference.  

Example: Dan Sui, Virginia Tech senior vice president for research and innovation, spoke.  

Note - If a person’s title includes the name of a division, the division name is lowercase in the title after a name on first reference. 

Examples:

• Bryan Garey, vice president for human resources, oversees Human Resources.
  
• Tracy Vosburgh, vice president for communications and marketing, leads the Communications and Marketing Division.  

For our purposes, titles are assigned by human resources or established in the bylaws of an organization — are treated differently than job descriptions and field positions. These things, including being a department head or chair, should always be lowercase, regardless of where they appear in relation to a name.  

Example: They met with chair of the chemistry department Amanda Morris.  

Do not list degrees or certifications or other professional affiliations after a person’s name. If that information is relevant to the an article or story, it can be added later as a sentence within the text. 

Exceptions to AP Style

Communications and Marketing does not use Dr. as a title to avoid confusion for readers because the university has so many versions of a doctor – whether it’s a faculty member with a Ph.D., a veterinarian, or a medical doctor.  Dr. is not used as a title, unless it’s in a direct quote.

Note: This is an exception to AP Style, which does allow Dr. when the person is a medical doctor or veterinarian.

Capitalize University Distinguished Professor and Alumni Distinguished Professor (including the academic discipline, if provided) in all uses. 

Examples:

• University Distinguished Professor X.J. Meng will speak.
• X.J. Meng, University Distinguished Professor of Molecular Virology, will speak.
• The University Distinguished Professor studies human medicine as well.
  
• Similarly, capitalize and use the full names for professorships and endowed chairs and deans in all uses.

Spell out the full name of this award on first reference.

Example: He received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award.

Since this is commonly called a CAREER award, you should always use the acronym in parentheses.

Note that "award" is always lowercase.

Bonus style note: Avoid the use of "win" with any sort of grant or award. You win a contest, something decided by chance. You earn or receive a merit-based competitive grant or honorific.

Fellow is lowercase when it stands alone. 

Examples:

• Five scientists from Virginia Tech were named as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
• Brian Lattimer is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 

Do capitalize fellow when it’s part of a named fellowship.

Examples:

• Linsey Marr has been named a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, a highly prestigious award commonly called a “genius grant.” 
• Lingjia Liu has been named a Bradley Senior Faculty Fellow by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.