Capitalization

Capitalization

People

Capitalize a job title when it immediately precedes a person’s name. The title is not capitalized when it is an incomplete designation, follows a name or is on second reference:

• Mississippi College President Blake Thompson
  Dr. Blake Thompson, president of Mississippi College
  the president

• Professor of Business Tammy Arthur
  Dr. Tammy Arthur, professor of business
  professor Tammy Arthur
  the professor

Exception:
Endowed professorships are capitalized, even when the title follows a name.

• Deborah Challener, the Owen Cooper Professor of Law, moderated the panel.

Departments, Offices, the Board of Trustees

• Capitalize the formal names of departments and offices, as well as the Board of Trustees; do not capitalize informal names and incomplete designations:
  Department of Chemistry
  the chemistry department
  the department  
• the Office of Public Relations
  the public relations office
  the office

Degrees

• Official college degrees when spelled out.
  Bachelor of Fine Arts, but bachelor’s degree
  Master of Science, but master’s degree
• The major when it appears as part of the degree; however, lowercase major when it follows the word degree.
  Bachelor of Landscape Architecture
  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science.

• Use lowercase for majors with the exception of languages:

  • Right: She is a physics major.
  • Right: He is an English major.
  • Wrong: She is a Biology major.

Buildings, Places, Centers

Capitalize the word "University" whenever referring to Mississippi College.

Capitalize the formal names of buildings, places and centers. Use the formal name on first reference and, in most cases, use lowercase on second reference:

• Mississippi College Provine Chapel
  the University Chapel
  the chapel
• Samuel Marshall Gore Art Galleries
  the art gallery
• The University allows (capitalize the "U" when referring to Mississippi College)
  At any university, students will

Omit the first name of the person for whom a building or center is named, unless the reference is for memorial or ceremonial purposes:

• Rice Fieldhouse
• Thomas Laboratory
• Davis International Center

For buildings or centers that have additional identifiers with their names, use those whenever possible on first or early reference, and the last name only on subsequent references:

• Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding (Fields Center on subsequent references)

In general, put the building name first followed by the room number:

• Self Hall, Room 310

For large auditoriums, put the room first followed by the building name:

• Swor Auditorium in Nelson Hall
• Anderson Hall in B.C. Rogers Student Center

Events

The formal names of special events are capitalized:

• Career Day
• Baccalaureate
• Class Day
• Commencement
• Opening Exercises
• Reunions

1. Geographical regions of the country, but not points of the compass (direction or locality).

• A storm system that developed in the Midwest is spreading eastward.

1. The word Southern when referring to a cultural or area distinction.

• Southern cooking
• The Southern way of life

Cities and States

Use commas to separate the name of a state when it follows a city:

• The train ride ended in New Brunswick, New Jersey, at 5 p.m.

Spell out the names of the 50 U.S. states when they stand alone and when a state is listed with a city, town, village, etc.

Note about use of United States: Use “U.S.” only as an adjective, otherwise spell it out. “She studied U.S. culture of the 1950s.” “She studied the culture of the United States from the 1950s.”  

Do not use states with these U.S. cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington

Classes

Capitalize the word “Class” in

the Class of 1991