Within the organizational structure of St. Edward’s University, academic subjects are organized by schools, which are made up of programs, departments and areas.
St. Edward’s University Schools:
- School of Arts and Humanities
- School of Behavioral and Social Sciences
- School of Human Development and Education
- School of Natural Sciences
- The Bill Munday School of Business
Graduate programs are offered within the university’s schools.
Programs, Departments and Areas:
- The Biology program is offered by the School of Natural Sciences.
- The MBA program is offered by The Bill Munday School of Business.
- The Department of History is within the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences.
- The Art area coordinator organized the exhibit.
The word “program” is not capitalized, except in these cases:
- Academic Counseling and Support Programs
- Alumni and Parent Programs
- College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP)
- Fellows Program
- Fulbright Program
- Honors Program
Administrative offices within the university are not referred to as departments:
- “Marketing Office” instead of “Marketing Department”
- “Office of Residence Life” instead of “Department of Residence Life”
Capitalize the official names of offices, otherwise, lowercase:
- Contact the Office of Admission for an application.
- Pick up an application at the admission office.
Note: Our university style spells “admission” as singular: “Admission” not “Admissions”
Faculty, Adjunct instructor, Professor, PhD
- “Faculty” refers to the entire instructional staff. It takes a singular verb. Its plural is “faculties.” When referring to an individual, use the phrase “faculty member.” When referring to a group of individuals numbering less than the entire faculty, use the phrase “faculty members.”
- The faculty of St. Edward's University is highly regarded.
- Several faculty members will join the planning committee.
- Use “adjunct instructor,” not “adjunct,” “adjunct teacher” or other variations for non-contracted full-time faculty.
- Likewise, use “postdoctoral associates” for instructors with this title. Commas precede and follow academic degrees, and designations:
- Gary Morris, PhD, is dean of the School of Natural Sciences.
- Judith Smith, CPA, will consult on the new budget.
- Use “professor” over “Dr.” and “PhD.”
- When not using “professor,” use “PhD” over “Dr.”
- Capitalize “Professor” when it precedes a name:
- Professor Susan Jones received her grant.
- Capitalize “Professor” and program name when it precedes a name:
- Susan Jones, professor at St. Edward’s, received her grant.
- Lowercase “professor” and capitalize program name when they follow a name:
- David Smith, professor of Psychology, teaches a course in childhood behavior.
- John Smith, associate professor of Digital Media Management at St. Edward’s, explains how the school’s digital media programs originated.
- Marie Diaz, postdoctoral teaching associate in Chemistry, will lead the discussion.
Common Descriptors
All-America
All-American
All-Heartland
All-conference
All-district
All-region
All-tournament
First-team
Second-team
Elite Eight
Nationals
Sweet 16
Use “first-team All-America,” unless it’s before someone’s name, as in “First-Team All-American Joe Buck” (notice the “n” added for that instance).
Do not capitalize “honorable mention” when referring to:
- Daktronics honorable mention All-America (treat the same as first-team)
Use “conference championship,” unless it’s the same occurrence as above (i.e. Conference Champion St. Edward’s).
Use title case when a conference’s proper name is used (i.e. Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Week, Heartland Conference All-Tournament Team, Heartland Conference Championship).
Athletics teams aren’t capitalized, as in men’s tennis team or women’s basketball team.
However, if the team has an actual name, capitalize it (i.e. ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team).
All women’s athletics programs are referred to as “women’s” teams, never “girls” or “ladies” teams.
Students who play sports are referred to as “student-athletes.”
Beginning in Fall 2019, St. Edward’s will compete in NCAA Division II as a member of the Lone Star Conference.
“NCAA” needn’t be spelled out.
RBI vs. RBIs – Run(s) Batted In (singular or plural use determined by editorial context)
Student-athletes may be referred to by their class (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) instead of by their graduation year as classification can differ from expected graduation.
- Freshman Blake Blackwood won the day for the Hilltoppers.
Athletics vs. Athletic
- “Athletic” is an adjective describing one’s physical ability.
- “Athletics” is a noun describing the training and practice of sports activities.
In most cases regarding university copy, “athletics” is the correct term, whether referring to Hilltopper athletics or to the athletics banquet.
Refer to the program as “Athletics” or “St. Edward’s University Athletics” (capitalize when referring to the entity as a whole).
Do not capitalize if referring to “Hilltopper athletics,” “men’s athletics,” “women’s athletics” or “varsity athletics.”
Most variations on “Hilltopper” are acceptable (i.e. Hilltopper baseball, Hilltopper basketball).
Avoid the “SEU” abbreviation in sports.
In sports writing only, the University of Texas is abbreviated to “UT” and UT–Austin is referred to as “Texas.” All other UT branches should be listed with city location. For example: UT–Arlington; UT–Permian Basin; UT–Dallas.
When writing about tournaments or competitions, use “4 on 4” instead of “4 v. 4” or “four on four.”
The school colors “blue and gold” are not capitalized in a sentence.