Abbreviations

Academic Degrees

Academic degree abbreviations with two capital letters are written with periods. Abbreviations for academic degrees with three or more capital letters are written without periods.

Undergraduate degree examples:

• B.A. (Bachelor of Arts)
• BID (Bachelor of Industrial Design)
• B.M. (Bachelor of Music)
• B.S. (Bachelor of Science)
• BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts)
• BSN (Bachelor of Science Nursing)

Graduate degree examples:

• M.A. (Master of Arts)
• MBA (Master of Business Administration)
• MPA (Master of Public Administration)
• M.S. (Master of Science)
• MSN (Master of Science in Nursing)
• MSW (Master of Social Work)
• DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy)
• Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
• J.D. (Juris Doctor)
• LLM (Master of Laws)
• Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)
• Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology)
• SLPD (Doctor of Speech-Language Pathology)

  Note: Registered Nurse (RN), is not a bachelor’s level academic degree. It is written without periods.

Courtesy Titles

The titles Dr., Mr., Ms., Mrs. and Miss are only used when contained in direct quotes or in writing a letter or email.

Dr. is used for medical doctors only (see Capitalization section below).

Reverend is always written in full.

ID
ID, as in Student ID, is written without periods.

To enter the Bradley Center, students must have their Student ID.

Ramapo College School Names
Use abbreviations after the first mention, then continue with the abbreviation only.

• Anisfield School of Business (ASB)
• School of Humanities and Global Studies (HGS)
• School of Contemporary Arts (CA)
• School of Social Science and Human Services (SSHS)
• School of Theoretical and Applied Science (TAS)

State Names
Use periods for state names that contain two words; do not use periods for one-word state names.

N.J., N.Y., R.I., AZ, FL, MA

Academic Building Wings

Use a hyphen between the letter and the word “Wing.” Capitalize “Wing.”

A-Wing, B-Wing, C-Wing, D-Wing, E-Wing, G-Wing, H-Wing

Acronyms

Avoid acronyms unless they are commonly recognized, such as SAT, NASA and IBM. Otherwise, use the full name of the organization in the first reference followed by the acronym in parentheses, if the acronym will be used later. On second reference, and throughout the remainder of the content, use the acronym only.

All acronyms and abbreviations are written without periods, unless the organization’s proper name includes periods.

• School of Humanities and Global Studies (HGS)
• AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph)
• CVS (Consumer Values Stores)
• P.F. Chang China Bistro (namesake of owners Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang whose surname was simplified to Chang)

Alumni

General Use

Use the words “alumnus,” “alumna,” “alumni” and “alumnae” only for official graduates of the College. Those who attended Ramapo but did not graduate are not alumni. Avoid the use of the word “alum.”

• Alumnus: male singular
• Alumna: female singular
• Alumni: mixed male and female plural / male plural
• Alumnae: female plural

Adding Graduation Year After Ramapo Alumni Names

When referring to an alumnus or alumna, add the graduation year after the name without a comma.

For the proper apostrophe before the graduation year, type the single quotation mark twice, ‘’, and then delete the first one.

Bachelor’s degree from Ramapo College
John Doe ’02

Multiple degrees from Ramapo College
Jane Doe ’10, ’14 M.A. (if both degrees are from Ramapo)
Jane Doe ’10 M.S. (if only the master’s degree was attained at Ramapo)
Jane Doe ’02, ’10 M.A.,’17 M.A. (if all degrees are from Ramapo)

Honorary Degree
For an honorary degree, add “H” after the year. Include only Ramapo College honorary degrees.
John Doe ’16H

Ramapo Alumni with Honorary Degrees
If a person is a Ramapo alumnus or alumna who also has a Ramapo honorary degree, first list the Ramapo degree earned through successful attendance, followed by the honorary degree.
Jane Doe ’14, ’90H

Ampersand/And

Avoid the use of the ampersand unless an ampersand is part of an organization’s proper name.

• The Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies
• U.S. News & World Report
• Proctor & Gamble
• School of Social Science and Human Services
• School of Theoretical and Applied Science

Campus Buildings and Facilities

Capitalization

Administrative, Academic and Faculty Titles

Capitalize a person’s title only when it appears before a name. Use lowercase titles in all other uses. Titles are lowercase when used without a name. Whenever possible, to ensure the correct doctoral degree is noted, it is best way to check directly with individuals.

In writing, “Dr.” is used for medical doctors only. In written materials, do not use the term “Dr.” before the name of a person who has a doctoral degree. Instead, use the doctoral degree abbreviation, set off by commas, after the full name on first reference. In subsequent references, use only the last name.

Exception:
For formal oral introductions, it is appropriate to use the term “Doctor” for someone who has achieved a Ph.D. or other doctoral degree.

Notwithstanding the exception above,
Ramapo College President Jane Doe, Ph.D.
John Doe, Ph.D., president of Ramapo College
The president of Ramapo College lives in the Havemeyer House.
John Doe, Ed.D., is the director of the College’s Center for Reading and Writing.
Jane Doe, Ph.D., has taught at Ramapo for 15 years.
John Doe, Psy.D., heads the College’s counseling services.
Jane Doe, SLPD, is director of the College’s Office of Specialized Services.

When listing a series of people with their titles, be consistent so the capitalization of titles is the same for all.

Ramapo College President John Doe, Ph.D., Professor Jane Doe, Ph.D., and Education Department Chair William Jones, Ed.D., are co-chairing the committee.

Examples:

Dean

• Ramapo College School of Social Science and Human Services Dean Jane Doe, Psy.D.
• John Doe, Ph.D., dean, Ramapo College School of Theoretical and Applied Sciences

Associate Dean

• Ramapo College Anisfield School of Business Associate Dean John Doe, Ph.D.
• John Doe, Ph.D., associate dean, Ramapo College Anisfield School of Business

Assistant Dean

• Ramapo College’s Adler Center for Nursing Excellence Assistant Dean Jane Doe
• Jane Doe, assistant dean, Ramapo College Adler Center for Nursing Excellence

Executive Director

• Ramapo College Foundation Executive Director Jane Doe, M.A.
• John Doe, M.A., executive director, Ramapo College Foundation

Distinguished Professor

• Ramapo College Distinguished Professor Jane Doe, Ph.D.
• Jane Doe, Ph.D., distinguished professor, Ramapo College

Professor Emeritus

• Ramapo College Professor Emeritus Jane Doe, Ph.D.
• Jane Doe, Ph.D., professor emeritus, Ramapo College

Associate Professor

• Ramapo College Associate Professor John Doe, Psy.D.
• John Doe, Psy.D., associate professor of psychology at Ramapo College

Assistant Professor

• [School or Program] Assistant Professor Jane Doe, Ph.D.
• Jane Doe, Ph.D., assistant professor, [School or Program]

Professor

• Ramapo College [School or Program] Professor John Doe, Ph.D.
• John Doe, Ph.D., professor, Ramapo College [School or Program]

Adjunct Professor

• Ramapo College Adjunct Professor Jane Doe
• Jane Doe, adjunct professor of biology, Ramapo College

Academic Degrees

When referencing academic degrees, the full degree title is capitalized, as in “Bachelor of Arts,” “Master of Science.” When adding the degree subject, the subject is in lowercase, as in “Bachelor of Arts in history” and “Master of Arts in biology.”

Languages, dialects and parts of the world are always capitalized, including in academic degrees.

The degree is lowercase in less formal uses, such as “bachelor’s degree” and “master’s degree.” Associate degree is written without an apostrophe and an s.

John Doe received his Bachelor of Arts from Ramapo College.
John Doe received his Bachelor of Arts in history from Ramapo College.
Jane Doe graduated from Ramapo College with a master’s degree in business administration.
Jane Doe received her associate degree from Union County College before earning her bachelor’s degree at Ramapo College.

Additional Capitalization Rules

“Freshman,” “sophomore,” “junior” or “senior” are not capitalized, unless at the start of a sentence or in a headline or title.

Regarding “freshman” versus “freshmen,” when referring to a class, use the singular. When referring to a group of people all in the same year, use freshmen. When referring to an individual, use freshman.
The freshman class has the highest SAT scores of any class admitted to Ramapo College.
The freshmen took on the sophomores in intramural soccer.
John Doe is a freshman.
Sophomore Jane Doe started the Gaming Club.

The word “the” is capitalized in a name or title when it is a part of the official name. Otherwise, “the” is lowercase.

The New York Times
the Berrie Center (short form for the Angelica and Russ Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts)
the Bradley Center (short form for the Bill Bradley Sports and Recreation Center)
The Atrium
The Lodge
The Trustees Pavilion

When referencing the official name of a department, the word “Department” is capitalized. Lowercase “department” when only referencing the department.

the Department of Public Safety
She is a student worker in the public safety department.

Class Years and Semesters

For a graduated class, “Class” is capitalized and the year is written in full.

Parents of the Class of 2018 are invited to attend.

Semesters are written as “Fall 2018” or “Spring 2019,” with the season capitalized and the year written in full, when used together. Lowercase the season in other uses.

The new academic program will be offered starting in Fall 2020.
Many exciting student events are scheduled for the spring semester.

Clubs

Formal names of student clubs are capitalized.

Black Student Union
Computer and Technology Club
Enactus
Hillel
Ramapo First Responders Club
United Asian Association

Compass Directions

The directions north, south, east and west are written in lowercase. Capitalize a compass point when it is part of a name like South Korea, South Africa or East Anglia. Use lowercase if it’s a general area such as northeast France, but uppercase if referencing a specific region and using the word ‘the’ before it (such as the South.)

Course Names

The abbreviation letters for a course subject that appear in front of the course number in course ID #s are fully capitalized. Place a hyphen between the course subject and the course number. Course titles are initial capitalized. Do not put course names or titles in quotations or italicize. When not using the formal name of a course, use lowercase.

ACCT-221 Principles of Financial Accounting
PSYC-347 Adolescent Psychology
EDTC-621 Instructional Design
He is taking financial accounting courses at Ramapo College.
They both signed up for Adolescent Psychology.
She teaches instructional design.

Dates and Time

Write out dates without nd, th, rd, etc. For instance, Tuesday, March 26, 2019 and not Tuesday, March 26th, 2019.
Usually, use a.m. and p.m. instead of AM and PM or A.M. and P.M.
Use either Noon or noon (and not in addition to 12 p.m.)
When listing times such as 10 a.m.-2 p.m., always indicate that 10 is in the a.m. while 2 is in the p.m. So, never 10-2 p.m.
Do not use :00 after a time that falls on the hour, so use 8 am.-4:30 p.m.

Email

“Email” is all one word. No hyphen.
When specifying an email address, do not use colons after the action verb. For instance, use:
Email admissions@ramapo.edu (not Email: admissions@ramapo.edu)

Headlines

When using initial capitalization style for a headline, capitalize the title’s first word, last word, and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions.

Articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions are lowercased. An exception is any preposition with at least five letters, which is capitalized.

When possible, try to stay away from starting the title of a press release with the name of the institution; instead, start with the topic which will be of greater interest to news media whose focus is on local and national topics and trends.

Documentary ‘From Swastika to Jim Crow’ to be Shown at Ramapo College
Son to Tell Story of His Parents’ Escape from Poland During Holocaust
“Life Is Short” Seminar for High School Seniors to be Presented
Graduate Students Plan Appreciation Day for Their Faculty at Ramapo College
Ramapo College Announces New Master of Accounting

Pronouns are capitalized in a title.

Violence and Its Aftermath

Sub-headlines, or secondary headlines below the main headline in news releases are written in italics.

Ramapo College Announces New Master of Accounting
Program Expected to Draw Students from Across the Country

Homelessness Exhibit to Open at Ramapo College Pascal Gallery
Photos from the 1900s to Present

Hyphens

When including something like 12 four-credit courses, close up all the spaces before and after the hyphen, also known as an en dash. When using long dashes, also known as em dashes, add a space before and after the em dash.
12 four-credit courses
We had two tickets for the merry-go-round — John and Jane were able to ride together.

Inclusive Language

General guidelines for inclusive language are as follows:

When writing about race or ethnicity, use lowercase for “black” and “white,” but capitalize when referring to a specific region: African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic, Latino. Best practice is to refer to the actual country of origin, when known.

According to AP style, American Indian is the preferred term for those in the U.S. Native American is acceptable in quotations and names of organizations. Follow the person’s preference.

Use “international students” not “foreign students.”

When writing about people with physical or emotional challenges, it is best to use the specific medical term or the term from the affiliated association, when known.
Jane Doe, who has autism, led the retreat. (Do not say: Jane Doe who is autistic…)

An individual’s circumstances should not become that person’s identity.
People with disabilities… (not “the disabled” or “disabled people”)
John Doe who is homeless… (not “a homeless person”)

Avoid using “victim,” “suffers from,” “committed suicide” and other negative words and phrases.

Use gender-neutral titles such as “chair” or “chairperson” (not chairman or chairwoman), humankind (not mankind), “staff” the table (not “man” the table).

When referring to a specific individual where you would commonly use he or she, be aware

that an individual may request a specific gender-neutral pronoun.

Avoid gender-exclusive nouns or pronouns by restructuring sentences. Example: use the plural

rather than the singular.

Students must present their ideas by the deadline. [Not: Each student must present his/her

ideas by the deadline.]

Names

Spelling names correctly is critical. It is a best practice to double-check the spelling of all namesbefore printing or publishing.

Use the full name and title of a person on first reference. For subsequent references, use only the last name. Do not use Mr., Mrs., Ms. or Miss, except in a written letter.
John Doe earned his degree in three years. Doe was recognized for his achievement.

Include middle initials, or any other initials that are part of a person’s professional name. If a person uses two initials instead of a first or middle name, separate the initials by a space.
Michael J. Fox
C. Everett Koop
J. K. Rowling

Do not use a comma with Jr., Sr., II or III
John Doe Jr.
John Doe III

Numbers

Spell out zero through nine, and use numerals for the number 10 and above.
zero, two, five, 10, 63, 192, 15th, 71st, 88th

Do not use superscript for ordinal numbers.
20th, 35th, 50th
Note: 20th, 35th, 50th

Include a comma for the numbers 1,000 and greater.

When referencing a decade, do not add an apostrophe
In the 1960s, in the 1970s, in the 1980s
When referencing a decade in its shorter form, add an apostrophe before the ‘s’ or before the decade.
The attendees are in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
The best decades were the ‘60s, the ‘70s and the ‘80s.

In sentences, percentages should be written using the word “percent,” unless restricted by space.
10 percent; 80 percent
The use of the symbol % is acceptable when listing percentages in infographics or in tables.

Use the dollar sign for dollar figures. For large monetary numbers, starting with millions, write out the denomination.
The $20,000 training contract was signed by Ramapo College.
The $5.1 million grant was awarded to the nursing program in the School of Theoretical and Applied Science.

For telephone and fax numbers, Ramapo uses periods (with no spaces).
201.684.7500

Do not use a space between a number and a measure, and do not spell out numbers in weights and measures (use figures even if the number is under eleven).
9lbs., 7oz.

Do not use the Ramapo College extension number by itself because people cannot connect by clicking on only an extension on their smart phones or on websites.

Often-misused Words

Asian: Use Asian or Asians when referring to people from the Far East nations of Asia and nearby islands. Do not use Oriental to refer to people from these regions.

Dean’s List: Both words are capitalized

Doctorate/Doctoral: Doctorate is a noun. Doctoral is an adjective.
Jane Doe holds a doctorate in physical therapy.
John Doe has a doctoral degree in physical therapy.

Exclamation Points: Try to avoid exclamation marks. If you use one, make sure it’s only one!

Faculty: Takes a plural noun. Using “faculty members” can avoid confusion.
The faculty are attending a professional development workshop.
The faculty attend professional development workshops each year.

Freshman/freshmen: When referring to a class, use the singular. When referring to a group of people all in the same year, use freshmen. When referring to an individual, use freshman.
This freshman class represents every state in the U.S.
The sophomores encouraged the freshmen to attend.
John Doe is a freshman.

Full time/Part time and full-time/part-time: Written without a hyphen unless modifying a noun.
They work full time.
She has a full-time job.

Fundraising: one word, no hyphen – fundraising

Grade-point average: A hyphen separates the first two words – grade-point average

GPA: Acceptable in all references for grade-point average.

Home page: two words, lowercase – home page

Internet: Ramapo does not capitalize the term internet – in any use.
We researched a number of internet resources.
I was able to access the internet.
Visit the internet to learn more.

Intranet: Ramapo capitalizes the term Intranet (as a proper noun).
Ramapo’s Intranet contains a number of helpful resources for employees.
You will find it on the Intranet.

Login, log in: Log in, log on, and log off (two words) should only be used as verbs. Login, logon or logoff (one word) are used as nouns or adjectives. The information you use to sign into your email is your login (noun), and the page where you sign in is the login page (adjective). Further, “log on” often means to visit (especially a website), and “log in” means to sign in with a username and password. For example, one would say they logged on to a website simply by visiting its page, but they won’t be logging in when there is nothing on the site requiring a username and password. Though these are not technical terms, this is common usage.
Go to the login screen to enter your username and password.
Don’t forget to log off.
Click on the logoff button to log off.
You log in with your login information.
Log on to www.ramapo.edu

Nonprofit: No hyphen.

Off-campus/on-campus and off campus/on campus: Hyphenated as an adjective.
Separate words as an adverb.
They are sharing off-campus housing.
They live off campus.

Okay: Use okay or OK. Do not use O.K. or ok. Do not use uppercase “o” (Okay) unless it begins a sentence. Also acceptable: OK’d, OK’ing, OKs.

Online: one word, lowercase – online

Pupil or Student: Use pupil for children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Student or pupil is acceptable for grades nine through 12. Use student for college and beyond.

Stationary means standing still.

Stationery is paper and envelopes.

Theater vs. Theatre: Ramapo College uses “theater” unless the official name of an entity spells the word as “theatre.”
Sharp Theater

Vice President: No hyphen

Web: Capitalize the Web when short for World Wide Web

Webcast: one word, lowercase – webcast

Webmaster: one word, lowercase – webmaster

Webpage: one word, lowercase – webpage

Website: one word, lowercase – website

Do not use a period or comma after a web address (or an email address) if it comes at the end of a sentence or a paragraph.

When specifying a URL, do not use colons after the action verbs. For instance, use: Visit www.ramapo.edu (not Visit: www.ramapo.edu)

Avoid URLs that are particularly lengthy and complicated, unless essential to guide the reader to a particular document (get a short URL).

Do not use the https:// when specifying a URL
Use www.ramapo.edu/admissions (not https://www.ramapo.edu/admissions)
It is recommended that you not include the final slash when specifying a URL (it is not necessary and may affect appearance, readability)
Use www.ramapo.edu/poerd/jobs (not www.ramapo.edu/poerd/jobs/)

You have the option to not use www. May use ramapo.edu instead of www.ramapo.edu; may use ramapo.edu/poerd/jobs instead of www.ramapo.edu/poerd/jobs

When a web address comes at the end of a sentence or a paragraph, do not place a period at the end.
Learn more at www.ramapo.edu
Registration for the Project Management Certificate program is completed online at www.ramapo.edu/asb/project-mgmt

Radio

Radio station call letters appear in all caps. Use hyphens to separate from AM or FM when specifying the modulation:
WRPR-FM, WHTZ-FM, WCBS-AM

Ramapo College of New Jersey

Ramapo College of New Jersey may be shortened to Ramapo College, or Ramapo or RCNJ across all media, including social media and social media usernames.

After using Ramapo College of New Jersey or Ramapo College on first reference, the college may be referred to as “Ramapo” or the “College,” with capital C, when referring specifically to Ramapo College.
Ramapo College’s campus is in Mahwah, New Jersey. Ramapo students get a hands-on educational experience and benefit from small class sizes. The College’s Project Management Certificate program is also taught at its instructional site at the Meadowlands Environment Center, Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

After using the name of a Ramapo College school on a first reference, that school may be

referred to as the acronym for the school when referring specifically to that school.

The School of Social Science and Human Services (SSHS) focuses on how people think, interact,

grow, and respond to society and the evolving standards in our communities. SSHS offers a

Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability as well as a Master of Arts in Sustainability Studies.

Ramapo College of New Jersey may also be referred to by its abbreviation after first reference,

if the abbreviation is added in parentheses after the first reference.

Ramapo College of New Jersey (RCNJ) is home to the Selden Rodman Gallery of Popular Arts.

RCNJ maintains a world-renowned collection of Haitian art within the gallery.

A Ramapo College program may also be referred to by its abbreviation after first reference, if

the abbreviation is added in parentheses after the first reference.

ASB’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) students travel