Writing Guidelines

Alumnus: singular male
Alumni: plural male or mixed group
Alumna: singular female
Alumnae: plural female

Did not graduate
We use “alumni” to refer to people who attended NWU but did not graduate. If listing class years, include non-graduates in the class they are most closely associated with.

Avoid “alum”.

First reference
Include the class year of alumni on first reference in parentheses after the name.

• “Stephanie Peters (’99) is an engineer.”

Couples
When referring to couples, place the graduation years after the first names.

• “Larry (’67) and Sue (’68) (Sullivan) Baxter attended.”

Graduate and multiple degrees
For alumni with NWU graduate degrees and multiple degrees, list the master’s degree in parentheses.

• “Betsy (Wilson) Campbell (’06, ’11 MFS) works for the FBI.”

Here’s a short list of common words and terms in their acceptable form that often raise usage questions.

• Academic All-America Award
• Academic All-American
• email
• first-year student
• health care
• internet
• U.S.
• webpage
• website

Periods
Use periods in “p.m.” and “a.m.”

Suffixes
Avoid suffixes in numerical dates.

• “The performance on July 12 sold out.”

Formal degrees
Formal degree names are capitalized and do not contain possessives.

• “Master of Forensic Science”
• “Bachelor of Fine Arts”

Informal degrees
Informal degree names are lowercase and do contain possessives.

• “master’s degree”
• “bachelor’s degree”

Formal use
In pieces calling for formality, we follow AP style regarding periods in degree abbreviations.

• “The commencement speaker earned her M.B.A. from Iowa State University.”

Everyday use
Eliminate those periods in less formal pieces.

• “Thanks to accelerated courses, he earned his MSN in two years.”

Capitalization
Capitalize the names of academic departments.

• “The Physics Department welcomed the speaker.”

Emeritus: singular male
Emeriti: plural male or mixed group Emerita: singular female
Emeritae: plural female

Emeriti status
Emeriti status is something the Board of Governors bestows on many, but not all, retired faculty. The Academic Affairs Office can confirm whether a retired faculty member received emeriti status.

Deceased retired faculty/Emeriti
When referring to deceased retired faculty, drop the emeritus designation.

• “Professor Emeritus of English Don Black spoke at the funeral of his colleague, Professor of English Sue Brown.”

Most NWU facilities have formal and informal names. Buildings’ informal names are listed in parentheses below. Informal names are generally acceptable even upon first reference.

• Burt Hall
• Centennial Hall
• Cochrane-Woods Library
• Elder Memorial Theatre Center (Elder Theatre Center)
• George A. Knight Field House (Knight Field House)
• Heim Hall
• Heuermann House
• Holder House
• Huge House
• Johnson Hall
• Marian and Marion Weary Center for Health and Fitness (Weary Center)
• Old Main
• Olin Hall of Science (Olin Hall)
• Pioneer Hall
• Plainsman Hall
• Rachel Ann Lucas Hall (Lucas Hall)
• Roy G. Story Student Center (Story Student Center)
• Smith-Curtis Classroom/Administration Building (Smith-Curtis)
• Unvert House
• Vance D. Rogers Center for Fine Arts (Rogers Center)
• White Hall

Capitalization
Not capitalized—unless a modern language

• “Jane was a chemistry major. John was a Spanish major.”

Plural vs. singular
Our formal mascot is plural. We are the Prairie Wolves. When used as an adjective, the preferred mascot formation is singular.

• “She follows Prairie Wolf softball online.”
• “A dozen students from his high school attended Prairie Wolf Days.”

We follow AP style (with some exceptions) when referring to media publications and the like.

Albums: quotation marks
Art: quotation marks
Articles*: quotation marks
Blogs*: quotation marks
Books*: italics
Computer games: quotation marks
Magazines*: italics
Movies: quotation marks
Newspapers*: italics
Operas: quotation marks
Plays*: italics
Poems: quotation marks
Radio programs: quotation marks
Songs: quotation marks
Speeches: quotation marks
TV programs: quotation marks
Webpages: neither
Websites: neither

* deviation from AP style

One through ten vs. 11-∞
Generally spell numbers under 10 and all numbers at the beginning of sentences.

• “Twenty injuries and two fatalities were spread between 10 tropical storms.”

Ages
Represent all ages numerically.

• “She welcomed her 4-year-old grandson.”

Percentages
Represent all percentages numerically and spell the word “percent” in copy.

• “Violent crime dropped 6 percent.”

Phone numbers
Use periods instead of hyphens in phone numbers.

• “Reach the Admissions Office at 800.541.3818 ext. 2218.”

Abbreviations
Use AP state abbreviations.

• “The alumni were from Broken Bow, Neb. and Des Moines, Iowa.”

AP state abbreviations:

• Alabama: Ala.
• Alaska: Alaska
• Arizona: Ariz.
• Arkansas: Ark.
• California: Calif.
• Colorado: Colo.
• Connecticut: Conn.
• Delaware: Del.
• Florida: Fla.
• Georgia: Ga.
• Hawaii: Hawaii
• Idaho: Idaho
• Illinois: Ill.
• Indiana: Ind.
• Iowa: Iowa
• Kansas: Kan.
• Kentucky: Ky.
• Louisiana: La.
• Maine: Maine
• Maryland: Md.
• Massachusetts: Mass.
• Michigan: Mich.
• Minnesota: Minn.
• Mississippi: Miss.
• Missouri: Mo.
• Montana: Mont.
• Nebraska: Neb.
• Nevada: Nev.
• New Hampshire: N.H.
• New Jersey: N.J.
• New Mexico: N.M.
• New York: N.Y.
• North Carolina: N.C.
• North Dakota: N.D.
• Ohio: Ohio
• Oklahoma: Okla.
• Oregon: Ore.
• Pennsylvania: Penn.
• Rhode Island: R.I.
• South Carolina: S.C.
• South Dakota: S.D.
• Tennessee: Tenn.
• Texas: Texas
• Utah: Utah
• Vermont: Vt.
• Virginia: Va.
• Washington: Wash.
• West Virginia: W. Va.
• Wisconsin: Wis.
• Wyoming: Wyo.

Lincoln and Omaha
When referencing Lincoln or Omaha to an audience primarily familiar with NWU, do not include “Neb.”

• “The department sent interns to Seward, Neb., and Omaha.”

Job titles
Job titles in sentences should be capitalized only when directly preceding the person’s name.

• “Ask President Jones.”
• “Elaine became associate professor of communication in July.”

Doctor
To avoid confusion, the term “Dr.” is used only with people practicing medicine, psychology or dentistry.

• “Dr. Ted Miller diagnosed the child.”
• “Professor of Biology Susan Smith’s received her Ph.D. in 1995.”

First reference
Use the complete institution name on first reference. “Nebraska Wesleyan” and “NWU” are acceptable after first reference.

• “Let me tell you about Nebraska Wesleyan University. NWU is a friendly place.”

“University” in isolation
Lowercase “university” when it’s isolated from the full institution name.

• “The university graduated 400.”

“Wesleyan” in isolation
To avoid confusion with other schools associated with the Wesleyan name, never use “Wesleyan” in isolation when referring to Nebraska Wesleyan University.