Academic subjects or disciplines should be lowercased, except for languages or ethnicities, which are capitalized.
- She is taking courses in mathematics and psychology, but her major is English.
- The geography class took a field trip as part of its research.
- He took an introductory Spanish course and a linguistics course.
- York is one of the few universities in Canada to offer Jewish studies.
If you are writing about a specific department using the official name, capitalize the name of the department or research centre and use the full title for the first reference. On second and subsequent references, use the short version of the proper name also capitalized or the common noun element lowercased.
- The Department of Sociology received nine significant grants. It was the highest number ever presented to the Sociology Department within a single semester. Additional department information can be found on their website.
If, when using the common noun element, e.g. “department” or “centre,” and other departments or centres are mentioned leading to possible confusion, capitalize the initial letter.
- The Centre for Refugee Studies draws scholars from around the world. The Centre is one of 21 research centres at York University.
- The Department of Psychology is one of the largest in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. The department includes cognitive, behavioural and linguistic psychologists.
(See the Capitalizing academic subjects and Capitalizing departments and administrative units sections for more information.)
Use the word “alumni” to refer to a group of people who have graduated from York University. It is the most commonly used form and is the York preference.
- Thousands of alumni from across the country arrived at the campus for homecoming weekend.
“Alumnus” refers to an individual male graduate.
“Alumna” refers to an individual female graduate.
“Alum” refers to a graduate, regardless of gender. Use specifically requested or if the graduate’s preferred pronouns are not known.
“Alumnae” describes a group of graduates known to be comprised entirely of females. It is not commonly used. However, it should be used when the grads are known to be all female.
- The Nellie Langford Rowell Library hosted alumnae from the first graduating class in women’s studies.
“Alums” is used as an informal substitute for “alumni” in spoken English but should rarely be used in written form.
The official names of the campuses of York University are:
- Keele Campus (not York campus)
- Glendon Campus
- Hyderabad Campus
- LA&PS IBM Learning Space
- Las Nubes EcoCampus
- Markham Campus
- YSpace Markham
- TD Community Engagement Centre
- Miles S. Nadal Management Centre
- Osgoode Professional Development Centre
It is acceptable to spell out the degree or to abbreviate it, depending on the context.
When describing and spelling out a degree, use lowercase and apostrophes.
- There are many baccalaureate degrees.
- He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics. She is working towards a master’s degree.
- She has a bachelor of arts degree in English.
- The Faculty of Graduate Studies conferred 97 master’s degrees in the fall convocation.
When abbreviating a degree, omit periods and punctuation marks.
- BA, MA, PhD, LLB, LLD, LLM, DJur, DLitt, BJ, BSc, MES, MSW
Within the body of a text, details of a degree may be written out as follows.
- Dale Smith earned her BA (Honours) in history.
- Judy Shreiber graduated with a master’s degree last year.
Within a graduate profile, shorten degree information as much as possible, including the year of graduation.
- Dale Smith (BA Hons. ’79) now works in Guam as a consultant.
- July Shreiber (MA ’98) is now pursuing doctoral work at Harvard University.
When using articles with degrees, use the article appropriate when pronouncing the abbreviation.
- an MA in political science (not a MA)
- an MSc in theoretical physics (not a MSc)
- a BA in philosophy
Honorary degrees should follow the same rules as above. When abbreviating an honorary degree, use Hon.
- Indigenous law scholar John Borrows was recognized with an honorary doctor of laws degree from York University on June 22.
- John Borrows (LLD [Hon.]) spoke at the convocation ceremony last night.
- John Borrows, LLD (Hon.), spoke at the convocation ceremony last night.
- emeritus (masculine)
- emerita (feminine)
- emeriti (plural)
- emeritus (masculine)
- emerita (feminine)
- emeriti (plural)
(See Capitalizing job titles section.)
- Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
- Natural Sciences & Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC)
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
For captions or headings, abbreviate the word professor.
- Prof. Gord Bennett named to the Order of Canada
- Three York University profs appointed to the Order of Canada
In text, spell out the title in the first reference. Use the last name without the title in subsequent references.
- Professor Karen Gough was honoured by the Canadian Psychological Association. Gough has been teaching at York for many years.
When the word is used descriptively (following a name, preceding a field of study or as a common noun) do not capitalize and do not use period for abbreviation.
- Gord Bennett, a professor of chemistry, was named to the Order of Canada.
- The professors met each week.
- Karen Gough has been a professor of biology for eight years.
(See the Capitalizing job titles section.)
Use the term lecturer if appropriate, but do not distinguish between assistant professors, associate professors, full professors or adjunct professors, unless it is relevant to the story. Faculty members are treated equally within a story, even if Professor Jones has full tenure, Professor Smith is an associate professor and Professor Johnson is an assistant professor.
- York University professors Jones, Smith and Johnson spoke at the symposium.
Do not capitalize “professors” when introducing a list of professors, like above.
(For rules on capitalization of titles, see the Capitalization section.)
With few exceptions, a title more than two words long should be set off from the name with commas.
- Rhonda L. Lenton, president and vice-chancellor of York University
A title set off from a name by commas is lowercased.
- The president and vice-chancellor, Rhonda L. Lenton, will represent York University at the talks.
Courtesy titles
Avoid using courtesy titles Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms.
Honorific titles
Honourable, right honourable, excellency, etc., are to be avoided, except in formal invitations and direct quotations.
Two exceptions to the above rule are the academic honorific titles Distinguished Research Professor and University Professor, which are always capitalized.
Professional titles
Avoid use of “Dr.” title entirely, both for people with doctoral degrees and for medical doctors. Use academic titles instead, and/or explain the person’s professional role without using the “Dr.” title.
One exception to this is when “Dr.” is used within a letter from the president or a senior administrator, or within a quote. Treat a letter as a long quote.