Academics

Abbreviations and Acronyms
Spell out the first reference to any university group or program.
In subsequent references, phrases such as the committee or the center are preferable to abbreviations or acronyms, which are
often ambiguous.

Here are two ambiguous abbreviations:

CIS
Department of Computer and Information Science or 
Career Information System

IFC
Interfraternity Council or Incidental Fee Committee

Resist the temptation to create new acronyms. Although the acronym itself might be easy to remember, figuring out what it stands for can be mind-boggling.

Academic Rank
Not all faculty members are professors. When the academic rank of a faculty member is mentioned in a UO publication, use the official, university-conferred rank—one of the following:

professor
associate professor
assistant professor
senior instructor
instructor
lecturer
senior research associate
research associate
senior research assistant
research assistant
postdoctoral fellow
graduate teaching fellow
graduate research fellow
fellow

Acting, adjunct, courtesy, emerita or emeritus, or visiting may also be part of the official academic title. The University of Oregon Faculty Handbook, produced by the Office of Academic Affairs, defines each of these designations. Don't capitalize general references to academic rank or title. See also Capitalization.

Often you don't need to list academic rank at all. Perhaps the faculty member's administrative title (e.g., assistant to the dean) would serve your purpose better. Or you can show the UO affiliation by using such verbs as teaches, conducts, or directs rather than a title.

Administrative Titles
Refer to people who oversee academic or administrative units as follows:

ACADEMIC OR ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT

TITLE

area center college committee department institute museum office professional school program vice presidency

coordinator director dean chair head director director director dean director vice president

Don't hyphenate the following titles:

vice chair
vice chancellor
vice president
vice provost

When someone is filling in for an administrator who is temporarily on leave, the correct title is acting. When someone is filling in while a permanent replacement is being sought, the correct title is interim.

Don't hyphenate the following titles:

vice chair
vice chancellor
vice president
vice provost

Academic and Administrative Units
Both tradition and sensitivity to language govern the naming of academic and administrative units. The two types aren't mutually exclusive, of course; they're categorized here according to their primary functions.

The Oregon University System must approve the naming, or renaming, of academic and administrative units. Sometimes the council delegates authority for approving name changes to the university president or a vice president. Until such approval has
been received in writing, a proposed name should not appear in
UO publications. Doing so invites confusion about when the change
takes effect, at best, and at worst, embarrassment and liability if
the proposed name is not approved.

It is especially important to note that specific criteria must be met before the name center or institute can be applied to an organization in the Oregon University System; these criteria are available in the Office of the Provost.

Tradition 
Traditionally, academic units are called colleges or schools, departments or programs, and occasionally areas. Already-existing exceptions should be regarded as anomalies rather than as models.

Charles H. Lundquist College of Business
School of Music
Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management
Ethnic Studies Program

Office of Academic Advising
Office of Resource Management
Career Center
Center for the Study of Women in Society
Chemical Physics Institute
Institute of Molecular Biology
Museum of Natural History
Oregon Humanities Center
Printing and Mailing Services
University of Oregon Libraries (Knight Library is the name of a building)

Sensitivity 
Use brevity, sensitivity to word meanings and connotations, and common sense as guiding principles.

In general, the shorter the better.

Don't make up a name to fit a clever abbreviation or acronym. See also Abbreviations and Acronyms at the beginning of Academics.

Don't use ampersands (&) or slashes (/). See Punctuation.

Walk the fine line between outdated language and the latest fad.

Think carefully about what the words say and imply.

Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity
An approved version of the university's affirmative-action and equal-opportunity statement appears on all university publications. Creative Publishing can provide you with acceptable versions of this statement. See also Policy Statement on Equal Opportunity.

Alumni

singular: alumna refers to a woman; alumnus refers to a man

plural: alumnae refers to women only; alumni refers to men or to women and men

Thomas Morales ’63

Alexis Udall, Ph.D. ’77
Thomas Morales ’63, M.A. ’67, J.D. ’74

Course Work
Course work is two words. See also Classes above.

Credit
In general, use credits rather than credit hours, hours, term credits, quarter credits, or term hours. When you must distinguish between a quarter system and a semester system, use quarter credits and semester credits. See also Term, later in this section.

Write the number of credits in figures unless it begins a sentence; spell out the number of credits if it's the first element in a sentence.

This course is worth 3 credits.
Four-credit courses are now the norm.

Degrees
Don't capitalize general references to degrees.

The University of Oregon offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.

The College of Arts and Sciences offers the bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, master of arts, master of science, master of fine arts, and doctor of philosophy degrees.

Bachelor's Degrees


B.A. B.Arch. B.Ed. B.F.A. B.I.Arch. B.L.A. B.Mus. B.S.

bachelor of arts bachelor of architecture bachelor of education bachelor of fine arts bachelor of interior architecture bachelor of landscape architecture bachelor of music bachelor of science




Master's Degrees


M.A. M.Actg. M.Arch. M.B.A. M.C.R.P. M.Ed. M.F.A. M.H.R.I.R. M.I.Arch. M.L.A. M.Mus. M.P.A. M.S. M.S.E.

master of arts master of accounting master of architecture master of business administration master of community and regional planning master of education master of fine arts master of human resources and industrial relations master of interior architecture master of landscape architecture master of music master of public administration master of science master of software engineering




Doctoral Degrees


D.Ed. D.M.A. J.D. Ph.D.

doctor of education doctor of musical arts doctor of jurisprudence doctor of philosophy

In general, the title Doctor or Dr. is reserved for people holding medical degrees (e.g., M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M.).

For academic doctorates, use the academic rank or, simply, Mr. or Ms. for addresses on letters—unless you know the addressee
prefers Miss or Mrs. If it's important to show someone's academic degree, put the degree after the name (Brenda Sohappy, Ph.D.).
In text, give the title of a faculty or staff member or student the first time you mention the person's name; thereafter, just use the surname.

Emeriti
Emerita and emeritus are honorary titles, denoting retirement, that follow a faculty member's academic rank. The titles may be used only after official notification from the provost. Academic emeriti are listed in UO catalogs throughout their lives. When given after names, titles aren't capitalized. See also Capitalization.

singular: plural:

emerita refers to a woman; emeritus refers to a man emeritae refers to women only; emeriti refers to men or to women and men




Alice Anderson, professor emerita of Romance languages


Liang Wu, professor emeritus of art history


How many professors emeritae belong to the American Association of University Women?


How many professors emeriti are there at the University of Oregon?

Faculty is a singular noun and requires a singular verb unless there's more than one faculty. It refers to a collective body of people.

The university faculty is large and vocal.


but: 
The faculties at the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Portland State University differ greatly.

Use faculty member (singular) or faculty members (plural) to refer to individuals.

Consult your adviser or another faculty member in your department.


The advisory group consists of four faculty members and one student.

2.50 (not 2.5)


4.00 (not 4.0)

Honors
(H) following a course number indicates honors credit for undergraduate students.

Semester
Use semester as the general reference to any academic semester at the School of Law.

Sequence
A sequence is two or more courses that must be taken in sequential, usually numerical, order. Don't use sequence to mean academic program or core courses. 

Staff
Staff is a singular noun and requires a singular verb unless there's more than one staff. Like faculty, it refers to a collective body of people.

Welcome to our staff.

Some staffs have thirty employees, some only one.

Do you need one staff member or two this weekend?

Our staff members are always ready to help you.

CDS COLT EMS GEOL

communication disorders and sciences comparative literature exercise and movement science geological sciences

On the quarter system the academic year is divided into four parts: fall term, winter term, spring term, and summer session.


but: 
The Summer Session office is open Monday through Friday.

Refrain from wordplay that trivializes the institution and sacrifices clarity to cleverness. Also unacceptable are Univ. of Ore., U of O, U. of O., U.O., and the University. 

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