Style Guide

Proper Representation of the University Name

Western New England became a university on July 1, 2011. It is essential that all members of the University community consider themselves to be ambassadors in educating the public, the media, prospective and current students, and alumni about this important achievement.

In formal communications, please use the full name of the institution: Western New England University in first reference. On secondary references, it is acceptable to refer to the University as WNE (alternatives: the University, the institution). If you are also including the name of one of our academic units after WNE, it is essential that you also include the word “University.”

CORRECT: WNE University School of Law
INCORRECT: WNE School of Law or WNE Law School

Similarly, please be mindful that even referencing the institution as WNEU, or the old acronym WNEC in formal or casual conversation detracts from the important brand identity of the University. If all of us set the best example, others will follow. 

State Abbreviations

Spell out the names of the 50 U.S. states when used in the body of a story. Use state abbreviations in conjunction with the name of a city, town, village, or military base in datelines (except for large cities); lists; tabular material; and credit lines. Use the following state abbreviations:

If you mention a city, always include the state unless it is Springfield (in local references) or a major city. Washington, DC is also treated this way. 

Other Abbreviations

When abbreviating other names, spell out the entire name on the first reference followed by the letters in parenthesis. The abbreviation, without periods, can be used thereafter.

CORRECT: The Campus Activities Board (CAB) sponsored the program.

Single or multiple letters, numbers used as nouns, and abbreviations without periods form the plural by adding “s” alone. For example: the Three Rs, YMCAs, CDs, IOUs, MBAs, PAs, OGLs, twos and threes, and the 1980s. These are plural, not possessive; do not add an apostrophe.

There are some exceptions: the plural for page, for instance, is pp.

Jr. and Sr., and notations like II and III, are not set off by commas:

CORRECT: Irving Smith Jr., president of XYZ Company, is on vacation.
CORRECT: John Hanson III will graduate this year.

Morning and afternoon are designated in copy by lower case letters a.m. and p.m. Never use uppercase. Always use periods. Midday should be written as 12:00 noon. Midnight should be written as 12:00 midnight.

Do not use “&” in place of “and” unless it is in the title of a company or program, etc.

Grade point average is abbreviated as GPA with no periods between letters.

See “Degrees” in the Style Guide for additional abbreviations.

Words with hyphens or apostrophes are alphabetized with regular words without regard to the hyphens or apostrophes.

Ben-Gurion, David
Braun, Theodore
D’Annunzio, Gabriele
de Knuif, Paul
De la Mare, Susan
De Valera, Carmen
Deventer, Jacob
Green, Donna Caswell

Use the official name of campus facilities with capitals in formal communication.
CORRECT: She works for the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
CORRECT: He works in the Office of Information Technology.

On second reference, when you don’t use the proper name, capitalize such places as Hall, Center, and Field.
CORRECT: The St. Germain Campus Center houses the Kevin and Sandra E. Delbridge Career Center.
CORRECT: The Center also houses the Vanech Family University Advising Center.

School of Law, NOT Law School
Department of Mathematics, NOT Mathematics Department

NOTE: When referencing Western New England University, always capitalize “University.”
CORRECT: Western New England University is in Springfield, MA.
CORRECT: The University enrolls 3,800 students.

Capitalize “University” only when it refers to Western New England University.

Note it is correct to still use “college” in lowercase in such references as “going to college,” “transitioning to college,” or “the college search process.”

Capitalize “Once a Golden Bear, always a Golden Bear” accordingly.

Majors—All majors, concentrations, and courses are capitalized. Capitalize both titles in hyphenated majors.
CORRECT: Pre-Optometry
CORRECT: Five-year Bachelor/MBA
CORRECT: Media and Journalism concentration

Capitalize formal titles when they precede an individual’s name (as they are included with the proper noun). Lowercase when used after a name, or when separated by a comma preceding the name. Capitalize academic titles such as dean and chair preceding a name.
CORRECT: Associate Professor of Spanish and Department Chair Sandra Navarro addressed colleagues, “…”
CORRECT: Sandra Navarro, associate professor of Spanish, addressed colleagues, “…”
CORRECT: “…” said University president, Dr. Robert E. Johnson, addressing the graduates.

The AP Stylebook does not capitalize “internet” and “web” as of 2016. When referring to the name of a website, follow the spelling and capitalization of the website owner.

Do not capitalize western in the phrase “western Massachusetts.” Do not capitalize greater in the phrase “greater Springfield.”

General references to semesters should be lowercased. Seasons of the year are not capitalized. Specific semesters may be capitalized.
CORRECT: Registration for Fall Semester 2021 will begin tomorrow.
CORRECT: Registration will begin in fall 2022.
CORRECT: Students may begin in the spring semester. 

Buildings/Grounds

Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center
Berkshire Hall
Blake Law Center (NOTE: do not include “S. Prestley”)
Campus Utilities Building
Center for the Sciences and Pharmacy
Commonwealth Hall
D’Amour Library
Emerson Hall
Evergreen Townhouses
Franklin Hall
Gateway Village
George E. Trelease Memorial Baseball Park
Golden Bear Stadium
Hampden Hall
Herman Hall
Churchill Hall
Deliso Hall
Flynn Family Golden Bear Pavilion
Kevin S. and Sandra E. Delbridge Career Center
LaRiviere Living and Learning Center
Leadership Garden
Plymouth Residence Complex
Rivers Memorial Hall
St. Germain Campus Center (NOTE: Do not include “D.J.”)
Southwood Hall
Suprenant Field
Sleith Hall*
University Commons
Windham Hall

*Note: Sleith Hall Room 100 is now referred to as the Lyman and Leslie Wood Auditorium

If you are using the last name of a building with two names, you must still capitalize the name.
CORRECT: Churchill Hall

Capitalize names of specific committees and lowercase second references.
CORRECT: The Graduation Committee met Thursday.
CORRECT: The committee planned to meet again today.

Capitalize Board of Trustees, but not trustee (except before the name, as a title).
CORRECT: The Board of Trustees meets three times a year.
CORRECT: She has been a trustee for two years.

Capitalize all references to the Western New England University Alumni Association and the Annual Fund.

Do not capitalize freshman, first-year, sophomore, junior, or senior when referring to individuals, but do capitalize names of organized entities.
CORRECT: Class of 1970 or the Senior Class

Capitalize “email” only when it begins a list or a new sentence.
CORRECT: Email Deb about the problem.
CORRECT: Please email Deb about the problem.

Do NOT capitalize the seasons.
CORRECT: summer, fall, winter, spring semesters.

The following is a list of degrees granted by Western New England University. This list indicates the formal terms and preferred abbreviations used by the University for names of programs. 

Communication major, NOT Communications
Sport Management, NOT Sports Management

The names of academic degrees and honors should be capitalized when using the exact name of the degree, but not when referred to in general terms:
CORRECT: Joseph received a Bachelor of Arts in English.
CORRECT: He received a bachelor’s degree.

Do not capitalize or italicize cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude.

Whenever possible include the graduation year of alumni in the first reference of their names or in photo captions. Make sure the apostrophe before the graduation date opens to the left.
CORRECT: Justin Armstrong ’08 was an English major.
INCORRECT: Justin Armstrong ‘08 was an English major.
CORRECT: Linda White L’72 is an attorney in Springfield.
CORRECT: Lisa Nguyen G’12 received her MBA from the University.
CORRECT: Pat Bran LLM’13 is an elder law attorney.

Use “G” to denote all master’s alumni.

The following words are hyphenated:

The following words are NOT hyphenated*:

*Consult Webster’s Dictionary for a more complete listing of hyphenated and nonhyphenated words with the prefixes “co-, non-, post-, pre-, re-.”

Use a hyphen if it is needed to clarify meaning and avoid unintended modification: “small-business owner,” “free-thinking philosophy,” “low-income workers.”

As of 2019, many combinations that are hyphenated before a noun are not hyphenated when they follow the noun: “She works full time.” Hyphenate if confusion would otherwise result: “The technology is state-of-the-art.”

Use “on-campus” when describing things. Use “on campus” when showing location.
CORRECT: Students live in on-campus housing.
CORRECT: I will live on campus.

Hyphenate all compound words that begin with “self.”
CORRECT: self-restraint, self-knowledge, self-conscious

Hyphenate compound words that begin with “ex” and mean former.
CORRECT: ex-president, ex-husband, ex-mayor

Hyphenate compound words used as adjective phrases.
CORRECT: Her new job demanded high-tech skills.

Do not hyphenate compound words with an adverb ending in “-ly” or those used as nouns.
CORRECT: The newly appointed director discussed the program.

The suffix “-like” is used to form new compound words and is not hyphenated unless the base word is a proper noun.
CORRECT: The athlete had catlike movements.
CORRECT: The city had Tokyo-like traffic congestion.

The word-forming prefixes listed below are nearly always written as one word unless:

• the second element is a capitalized word or numeral: un-American, pre-1920
• the word must be distinguished from homonym: re-cover, re-create
• the second element consists of more than one word: pre-internet, post-baccalaureate
• the first letter of the word following the prefix is the same as the last letter in the prefix: non-native, co-op

Prefix Example

Also see “Hyphenating Numbers.”

Usage of Numbers and Numerals

In general, spell numbers one through nine. Use figures for 10 and above and whenever preceding a unit of measure or referring to ages of people, animals, events, or things. Use figures for dimensions, percentages, ages, distances, computer storage capacities, academic course numbers, decimals, fractions larger than one, and in statistical and sequential forms. Grade levels are an exception—always spell them out.
CORRECT: nine secretaries
CORRECT: 10 buildings
CORRECT: 4 inches
CORRECT: He teaches ninth grade.
CORRECT: She has a daughter, Mia, 2 ½.

Always spell out a number at the beginning of a sentence.
CORRECT: Two thousand six hundred full-time undergraduate students are included in Western New England University’s enrollment of 3,800.

Spell out numerical designations first through ninth and use numerals with appropriate letter suffixed for 10th and above.
CORRECT: The first semester, the second vice president
CORRECT: The 10th sample, our 50th anniversary

Do NOT use “st,” “th,” etc. with dates.
INCORRECT: Submit applications by October 14th.
CORRECT: Submit applications by October 14.

Use numerals for percent expressions and use the % mark.
CORRECT: 85% of freshmen live on campus.

Apostrophes with Numbers

Do not use an apostrophe to form the plural when referring to a decade as a single period of time, but do express the year in numerals.
INCORRECT: the 2020’s, the 80’s
CORRECT: the 2020s, the ’80s

When identifying alumni by their class years, the year is set off by an apostrophe before, no comma after. If alumni have two degrees, the first year is written as described above then place a slash (/) after it and a G (for graduate degree), L (for Law), or PharmD (for Pharmacy), or OTD (for Occupational Therapy) and then an apostrophe and the second year with no space in between.
CORRECT: Noell Rodriguez PharmD’15
CORRECT: Donald Clark ’87 is an alumnus of Western New England.
CORRECT: Keith Saunders ’63/G’66 is a member of the Alumni Association.

Be sure the apostrophe opens to the left. To ensure proper orientation, press the shift and option keys along with the right bracket key. 

Graduation Years

Alumni earn graduation years. Do not attribute a graduation year to someone who has not yet graduated or only attended here.

Current students should be referred to as freshman or first-year, sophomore, junior or senior by a class. Example: Class of 2025.

Law students are referred to as L1-L4. PharmD students are referred to as PY1-PY4, and OTD students as OT1-OT3. Graduate students are called “candidates.”

Numbering with %

When referring to AACSB International accreditation, we say that we are “among fewer than 5% of business schools in the world to hold this accreditation.” 

Hyphenating Numbers

Spell out fractions in text material. Hyphenate them when they are used as adjectives or adverbs, but not when they are used as nouns.
CORRECT: The book is three-fourths completed.
CORRECT: Nearly one quarter of the students are women.

Telephone numbers are written with a hyphen.
INCORRECT: (413) 781-3111
INCORRECT: 800.456.7656
CORRECT: 413-781-3111

Campus extension numbers, if used, are preceded by the abbreviation Ext. (as in Ext. 1540).

Money

For dollar amounts beyond thousands, use the dollar sign, number, and appropriate word.

INCORRECT: The grant was $14,000,000.
CORRECT: The renovation was $12.8 million.
INCORRECT: The budget was $82,600,000.
CORRECT: The budget was $82.6 million.

Punctuation with Numbers

Use a comma in numerals of 1,000 and above, except for temperatures, dates, and SAT scores.
CORRECT: 2,235; 15,456
CORRECT: The typical freshman SAT score ranges from 1000 to 1400.
CORRECT: The program started in 2008.

Time

Figures are used in designations of time with a.m. or p.m.
INCORRECT: The concert begins at 8 p.m. in the evening.
CORRECT: The concert begins at 8:00 p.m.
CORRECT: The concert begins Friday evening at 8:00.
CORRECT: The concert begins at 8:30 p.m.
CORRECT: The concert begins 8:30 Friday evening.

For 12:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., use noon and midnight.
CORRECT: The session will end at 12:00 noon.
CORRECT: He came to work at 12:00 midnight.

Years, Months, and Days of the Week

Names of the months and days of the week are always spelled out in text. Do not use “on” with dates when its absence would not lead to confusion. To describe sequences or inclusive dates use a hyphen (-) or “to.”
INCORRECT: The program ends on December 15, 2022.
CORRECT: The program ends December 15, 2022.
CORRECT: The program ends Monday, May 1, 2022.
CORRECT: The program ends in December 2023. (no comma)
CORRECT: He was on sabbatical during summer 2021. (no comma)
CORRECT: The program ends in December.
INCORRECT: Apply here May 7 to 9, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
CORRECT: Apply here May 7-9, 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.
CORRECT: Apply here May 7-9, 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Members of the Department of Marketing and External Affairs work on the Macintosh platform. If you are supplying text for printed or electronic publications, please save documents in Word. Do not send text in Publisher or WordPerfect, as we do not have this software.

Important: When typing copy, leave only one space after periods or other end.

Only underline text that is a hyperlink, and provide the corresponding URL.

When copying text from the web, you may need to reformat apostrophes and quotation marks, as they may copy as inch (") and foot (') marks.
INCORRECT: The title of his lecture is "College—Then and Now"
CORRECT: The title of his lecture is “College—Then and Now”

Titled or Entitled? When referencing books, chapters, or articles, use “titled”
CORRECT: She recently published an article titled “How to Build Retention.”  

A person’s correct personal pronouns (they, he, she, etc.) should be respected and used at all times. When referring to a person whose gender is unknown, use the generic third-person singular “they/their.”

For general references to people (e.g., students, faculty, and staff), use the gender-inclusive “they/their.”
INCORRECT: Each student will receive his or her own ID.
CORRECT: Each student will receive their own ID.

Use a serial (Oxford) comma before and/or in a series of three or more items.
CORRECT: red, white, and blue
CORRECT: animal, vegetable, or mineral

Use commas to set off the individual elements in addresses and names of geographical places.
CORRECT: Please send pictures to 46 Mill Street, Springfield, MA.
CORRECT: The plane landed in Rome, Italy.
CORRECT: I go to school at the Springfield, MA, campus.

A semicolon is used in a list containing commas.
CORRECT: He leaves his wife, Sofia; his son, Alex; and his daughter, Gabriela.

When enclosing an independent sentence within parentheses or brackets, place the period inside the parentheses or brackets. When the matter enclosed is not an independent sentence, place the period outside.

Formatting of Titles, Publications, and Productions

Italicize names of books, newspapers, journals, magazines, newsletters, films, plays, collections of poetry and long poems published separately, symphonies, operas, blogs, ships, and airplanes.

Use quotation marks around articles, poems, songs, television programs, articles and features in periodicals and newspapers, chapters, titles of short stories, essays, individual selections in books, and the titles of lectures.

Punctuation Within Quotations

Colons and semicolons are placed outside the quotation mark.

Commas and periods are placed inside the quotation mark.

Place the exclamation point or question mark inside the quotation mark when it is a part of the quoted matter; they go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

In running quotations, each new paragraph should begin with open quotation marks.

Preferred spellings of usages adopted as style:

advisor, not adviser
alumni or alumnae
catalog, not catalogue
chair and vice chair, not chairman, chairperson, or chairwoman
coeducational, not co-educational
curricula as plural, not curriculums
data, not datums
gauge, not gage
memoranda as plural, not memorandums
phonathon, not phonothon

“Alumna” is feminine singular, “alumnus” is masculine singular, and “alum” is gender-neutral singular.

“Alumni” is masculine/feminine/gender-neutral plural; “alumnae” is feminine plural.

Do not put a courtesy title before a person’s name if a degree title follows. Use the abbreviations only after a full name, never after just a last name. In most cases, lowercase titles unless they precede a name.

Titles such as CPA should be preceded by a comma and should be written in full caps with no periods. When used after a name, a courtesy title is set off by commas.
CORRECT: Alan Wharton, CPA, works for an accounting agency.

The title Dr. may be used when the person holds an earned doctoral degree, whether PhD, EdD, DVM, PharmD, or MD.
INCORRECT: Mr. Rollins, PhD
INCORRECT: Dr. Gary Rollins, PhD
INCORRECT: College Dean Dr. Jessica Smith
CORRECT: College Dean Jessica Smith
CORRECT: Robert E. Johnson, president of the University
CORRECT: Dr. Gary Rollins
CORRECT: Gary Rollins, PhD, will address the educators.
CORRECT: Kim Quinn, director of alumni affairs
CORRECT: Director of Career Services Kim Quinn
CORRECT: John Tillman, CPA
CORRECT: Ashlee Robinson, Esq.
CORRECT: Smith, Jones, and Smart, P.C.

One is an instructor, lecturer, or intern “in” a subject, but a professor, associate professor, or assistant professor “of” the subject.

Note: In formal usage, such as acknowledgments, lists of contributors, lists of names in catalogues, etc., titles following a personal name can be capitalized.

Do not capitalize titles used without a name.
CORRECT: The director of copywriting services has many duties.
CORRECT: The creative director agonizes over design details.

Courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss, and Ms. are generally not used in either first or subsequent references.

Titles before names when a civil or military title is used with the surname alone must be spelled out.
CORRECT: Professor Rollins

However, with full names, most titles are abbreviated.
CORRECT: Col. Robert Mills
CORRECT: Sen. Lynn Jones

Reverend or its contraction, “Rev.,” is never placed in direct juxtaposition with the person’s family name. There must always be an intermediate qualifier.
INCORRECT: The Rev. Moser
CORRECT: The Rev. Frederick Moser or The Rev. Mr. Moser

The following are the correct ways to write the titles of other University organizations:
INCORRECT: Downe’s Hall of Fame 
CORRECT: Downes Hall of Fame
INCORRECT: Parent’s Association
CORRECT: Parents Association
INCORRECT: Deans List
CORRECT: Dean’s List
INCORRECT: Presidents List
CORRECT: President’s List 

There is no need to include https:// at the beginning of a website address. Capitalize email only when it begins a list or a new sentence.
INCORRECT: web site
CORRECT: website
INCORRECT: web page
CORRECT: webpage
INCORRECT: home page
CORRECT: homepage
INCORRECT: on-line
CORRECT: online

Official Webpage/Publication Design and Content Guidelines

Because the quality and accuracy of information published by the University on its web servers directly affects the institution’s reputation and image, it is essential that such information follow the guidelines of content and structure. It is also essential that information published electronically is consistent with the same high standards as other forms of published information (e.g., print, audiovisual, etc.). The official webpage/publication design and content guidelines have been developed to provide an overall standard design for official pages and publications while also providing for the individualization of campuses, departments, and other University-related organizations (e.g., official committees or task forces, major service units, etc.). These guidelines are in no way intended to limit staff who supervise their area’s ability to produce their own material.

Official webpages/publications shall:

1. Be created for the purpose of carrying out official University business;
2. Be subject to University approval;
3. Comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act by being accessible to screen reading devices that are used by people with visual impairments (i.e. all images will contain ALT tags containing information about that image). For more information, visit section508.gov;
4. Contain the following basic components:
   1. The title of the webpage/publication and the name of the organization/department/unit publishing the page
   2. A contact email address so that questions, corrections, or comments can be appropriately directed
   3. Links to the campus or University homepages, as appropriate
5. Be designed based on good usability principles:
   1. Don’t make users have to think too much—the webpage should be obvious and self-explanatory.
   2. Don’t test a user’s patience—the less you require of them to use your site, the more likely a random visitor will try it
   3. Manage to focus user’s attention—focus the user’s attention to specific areas of the site/page with a moderate use of visual elements to help your visitors get from point A to point B without thinking of how it actually is supposed to be In other words: the less thinking that needs to happen behind the scenes, the better the user’s experience, which is the aim of usability in the first place.
   4. Strive for feature exposure—letting the user see clearly what functions/options are available is a fundamental principle of a successful user interface
   5. Don’t be afraid of the white space—when a new visitor approaches a design layout (a webpage), the first thing he/she tries to do is to scan the page and divide the content area into digestible pieces of If you have the choice between separating two design segments by a visible line or by some white space, it’s usually better to use the white space solution.
   6. Don’t use more words than are necessary—visitors don’t read webpages, they scan Large blocks of text are very hard to scan and intimidate visitors. Use short bolded headlines and a couple of supporting sentences whenever possible.
   7. Make obvious what is clickable—webpages should not contain items that look like buttons or links but do not function as buttons or links. In support of that, only text that are links should be underlined on a
   8. Use well-thought-out hierarchy, grouping, and labeling in your navigation—listing too many links makes the navigation unwieldy, and too few may hide important information. Think about the user’s lexicon when choosing labels for links or pages that are a collection of links to other pages. For example, a student might not know that the Enrollment Services is where one pays bills; so a link labeled “Bill Payment” might be a better choice than “Enrollment Services.”

6. Be designed to address the issues of varying user screen resolution and the slow loading of images and video. Additionally, all navigational aids which are inline images should also contain alt tags giving equivalent informational or navigational functions for users of web browsers which cannot display images;
7. Do not have dead-end or malfunctioning links;
8. Comply with any other pertinent University publications policies/standards/guidelines or campus procedures.

Webpages/publications will minimally comply with the W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional HTML standards as defined by the Web Consortium.

Information contained on official webpages/publications shall contain no statements of a fraudulent, defamatory, harassing, abusive, obscene, or threatening nature. Such information will be removed from display. Additionally, the University has special concern for incidents in which individuals are subject to harassment or threat because of membership in a particular racial, religious, gender, or sexual orientation group.

Official webpages may contain external advertising if University policy allows such advertising in print media and only if such advertising is specified in a valid contractual agreement between the University and a third party.