We welcome and encourage questions about any of these style and usage rules. 

academic degrees: Always lowercase (unless degree includes a proper noun like "English." Do not use the word degree with the abbreviated degree. Do not refer to "her" or "his" degree. Always use the apostrophe S:

right: She has a B.A. in history.
right: He has a bachelor's degree in history .
right: She has a  bachelor's in  history
wrong: He has  a Masters in Education.

When the context requires reference to a person's doctorate status, use the following construction: Steven Segal, who has a doctorate in religion. The construction Steven Segal, Ph.D., may be used if many people's academic credentials are referenced. Generally, Bates does not use such courtesy titles and degree references in donor lists or other rosters. See courtesy titles.

academic departments and programs: capitalize only the formal name, e.g., the Department of History. Lowercase history department, English department. The formal name of interdisciplinary programs use the phrase Program in, as in the Program in Environmental Studies, the Program in African American Studies. See the Bates College Catalog for complete lists of programs and departments.

acronyms: abbreviations of academic degrees usually use periods. Abbreviations of companies, institutions, or organizations usually do not. She earned a B.A. and is now doing research at MIT while pursuing a Ph.D. She wants to work for the FBI.

addresses: when writing an address for the purpose of indicating where mail should be directed, use the ME postal state abbreviation for Maine with no comma between the city and state: Contact the Office of Communications and Media Relations, 141 Nichols St., Lewiston ME 04240. See states.

African American, French Canadian: No hyphen in noun or adjective uses for these and similar constructions.

alphabetizing names: see lists and rosters.

alumni, alumnus, alumna, alumnae:

• alumni (pronounced "-nie," as in "pie," at the end) is preferred when form describing a group including men and women or all men.
• alumnus is a male
• alumna is a female
• alumnus/a may be used when describing man/woman in gender neutral writing.
• alumnae (pronounced "-nee" at the end) is plural female.
• alums or alum is gaining acceptance, and is now acceptable in communications. Note: Anyone who has completed a semester or more of Bates study can be considered an alumnus/a of Bates College.

Alumni Council: when possible refer to this group as the Alumni Council of the Alumni Association. Lowercase all references to "the council."

ampersand: Do not use the ampersand as a substitute for and . Only use the ampersand if it is a formal part of a company's name: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, or Bates' Parents & Family Association.

commas: Do not use serial commas in a simple series:He owns a Dodge, a Plymouth and a Chevy. Use a comma before the last element in a complex series of phrases: We must anticipate that sunny weather will please the parents of our students, warm the crowds attending the various games, and increase consumption of bottled water. Exception: Bates Magazine does use serial commas.

courtesy titles: avoid including academic or professional degrees or courtesy titles in text or rosters unless their inclusion is relevant. Avoid titles (Mr., Mrs., Dr., Ph.D.,) in listings of alumni.

dates: when referring to the month and date an event occurred, abbreviate the month, use Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3): He arrived Sept. 6, 1995. I caught cold Dec. 4. Note: When writing just the month and year, do not abbreviate the month and do not place a comma between the two: October 2001 was a very dry month.

e-mail: note hyphen

emeritus/emerita: Used directly after the person's rank: Professor Emeritus of History James S. Leamon '55, or Ann B. Scott, professor emerita of music. Generally, members of the faculty with 15 years of service to the College are eligible to be considered for emeritus status on retirement. Emeritus rank of a teaching faculty is always raised to full professor. For example, an associate professor of physical education becomes professor emerita (woman) or emeritus (man) of physical education. Exception: lecturers remain lecturers when granted emeriti status: Marcy Plavin is a lecturer emerita in dance (note "in" not "of"). 

fundraising: Recent AP style change is no hyphen in any construction:He is a fundraiser. Fundraising is fun. They planned a fundraising campaign.

Internet: note capitalization.

intranet: note capitalization.

Jr., Sr., III: never precede by a comma: Thurston Howell III.

numbers: spell out zero through nine and use figures (10, 11, 12) thereafter. Exceptions:Bates' 5th Reunion uses figures. And use figures when referring to ages of people and animals, but not inanimate objects: Our children are Jack (4), Susan (2) and Sam (2 months). Also, spell out numbers at beginning of sentence.

online: no hyphen.

periods: Just one space, not two, after a sentence-ending period. Word-processing and layout software provide the appropriate spacing.

plurals

• decades: the early 1920s or the early '20s
• acronyms without period: several IOUs
• acronyms with periods: M.A.'s, Ph.D.'s
• single letters: Oakland A's

professor: try to use only when referring to a full professor, or a group of faculty members, otherwise use assistant professor, instructor, etc.:

• correct: At Bates, students work with professors.
• correct: Bates students work with John Doe, assistant professor of  history.
• correct: Bates students work with faculty members like John Doe. 
• avoid: We need to recruit a professor like John Doe .

professorship: use the preposition in when referring to the professorship alone: The Christian A. Johnson Professorship in Interdisciplinary Studies. Use the preposition of when referring to the holder: Jane Costlow, the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies.

president: capitalize only when used before the name: President Elaine Tuttle Hansen.

the Rev.: use the, because unlike Mr. or Dr., reverend is not a noun. As such, do not say someone is "a reverend." The person's doctoral degree or academic title is often includes after the Rev.: The Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Since religious affiliation is often relevant when referring to clergy, the courtesy title is often used.

time: use numbers plus a.m. and p.m. (note periods), except for noon or midnight. Do not include the :00 for 10 a.m., 11 a.m.

• correct: He arrived at 10 a.m.
• correct: The 10:30 p.m. deadline came and went.
• wrong: He left on the 10:00 a.m. bus.
• correct: He ate lunch at noon.
• wrong: At 12 noon, he was unhappy.
• redundant: He had breakfast at 9 a.m. in the morning.

states: use Associated Press abbreviations, not postal abbreviations, in place-state constructions, such as Boston, Mass. Spell out states when used alone:

• correct: He was born in Salem, Mass., in 1963.
• wrong: He works in Portland, ME.
• correct: He works in California.

Abbreviations used in place-state constructions:

titles, academic or administrative: capitalize the full faculty member's or staff member's title before the name, lowercase after (see exception for lists/rosters below). Capitalize a professorial title in all cases if it is an endowed professorship: John R. Cole, Thomas Hedley Reynolds Professor of History, gave a talk. Do not use "professor" or other academic or administrative title as a courtesy title.

• correct: Professor of Political Science Douglas Hodgkin met with Sawyer Sylvester, professor of sociology.
• avoid: Professor Douglas Hodgkin met with Vice President Victoria Devlin.

In a list or roster (of committee members, panel participants, etc.) titles can be uppercased, except for "student":

titles, business: lowercase business titles after names and when used alone. Lowercase even before names if titles are generic:

• wrong: I will be working as a School Psychologist.
• wrong: I will be meeting School Psychologist Mary Edwards.
• correct: I am a school psychologist.
• wrong: I am the Curriculum and Content Manager for an online company.
• correct: He is the chief financial officer.

URL: always capitalize.

U.S.: use as adjective and noun: The U.S. is in the Northern Hemisphere. The U.S. foreign policy is evolving.

university names: when referring to a university and its campus,  class notes in Bates Magazine employs this space-saving style: UMaine-Machias, UMass-Amherst, UC-San Diego.

World Wide Web: other uses include the Web, Web site, Web page, webcast, webmaster.

years: if describing inclusive years with a hyphen, do not use a preposition:

• correct: He served as trustee from 1975 to 1985.
• correct: His 1975-85  trustee service produced great things.
• wrong: He served as trustee from 1975-85.

When describing an academic year, fund-raising year, or fiscal year, use the following style:

• correct: The 2000-01 giving year was the greatest ever.
• exception: All digits are included when the year is included in a title: Bates College Catalog 2001-2002.
• exception: When the inclusive number includes two different centuries, include all digits: The 1999-2000 academic year.