4.9 University-specific style points

&  Occasionally used instead of “and” in center and institute names.  
 
Academic degrees  List the abbreviation of the degree, after a comma and with periods after the letters of the degree, after a person’s full name. John Doe, M.D., Jane Doe M.B.A. 
 
Academic Learning & Teaching Center 
 
Addresses  Should be single-spaced in website copy. Never UTHSCSA.  
Use UT Health San Antonio 
Building, Mail Code 
San Antonio, TX 78284 
 
alt text  Two words, no hyphen 
 
app Is acceptable on first reference for an online application. 
 
blog (noun, verb, adjective) is not capitalized except at the beginning of a sentence or at the beginning of a bulleted list. Do not use weblog. 
 
Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies  Lowercase institute on second reference. 
 
Campuses 
In San Antonio 
Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Campus, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive 
Home to the Long School of Medicine, the School of Dentistry, the School of Nursing, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the Dolph Briscoe Jr. Library 
 
Greehey Academic and Research Campus, 8403 Floyd Curl Drive 
Home to the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute, the School of Health Profession, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences’ Center for Biomolecular Analysis, and the Robert F. McDermott Clinical Science Building, home to the Research Imaging Center, the department of ophthalmology and the division of clinical pharmacy 
 
Mays Cancer Center, 7979 Wurzbach Road 
 
Center for Oral Health Care & Research (COHCR), 8210 Floyd Curl Drive 
 
Medical Arts & Research Center Campus (MARC), 8300 Floyd Curl Drive 
 
Texas Research Park Campus, 15355 Lambda Drive 
Home to the Institute of Biotechnology, the South Texas Centers for Biology in Medicine, Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, and the SBC Teleconference Center 
 
Regional Campus in Laredo, 1937 Bustamante St., Laredo 
South Texas Environmental Education and Research Program (STEER), Med/Ed Program 
 
cancer types  Initial caps on the Cancer by Name page. Be sure to include all possible variants of cancer name under the Also Called section. Separate each name with a comma. 
 
Mays Cancer Center  On first reference and Mays Cancer Center thereafter. 
 
CareCredit  One word, both Cs are capitalized. The brand name for a credit card that can be used at enrolled health care practices, including the clinics at UT Dentistry. Confirm that clinics use CareCredit. Not all do.  
 
Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio  Lowercase center on second reference 
 
Center for Oral Health Care & Research  Lowercase center on second reference 
 
comma Per AP Style, do not place a comma before the conjunction in a simple series: Red, white and blue. Do use a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction (quoted from AP Style) “I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast.” We do not use the Oxford comma. 
 
computer commands Capitalize the name of a computer button or function when describing commands. No apostrophes. Example: Click Enter to proceed. Hit Send. Hover your mouse over the Submit button. 
 
Department, Divisions, Centers, Institutes and Schools  Capitalize if referring to a specific department or other academic unit by its full proper name. Office of Institutional Analysis; Division of Pediatric Surgery 
 
do’s and don’ts  Don’ts does not have two apostrophes. 
 
ebook 
 
email  Email addresses should always be lowercase: weblife@uthscsa.edu 
 
em-dash Should be used instead of hyphens to set apart independent thoughts in a sentence.  
 
Facebook  Never a verb, always a capital F. People become “friends” on Facebook. People are “fans” of an organization’s Facebook presence. To “like” something is a way to affirm someone’s Facebook post. Use “like” as a noun, adjective or verb. 
 
FERPA Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Always use the acronym. 
 
Google Is a brand name. Do not use it as a verb. Use search or search engine. 
 
headlines  All should be initial caps style on website copy. Words of four or more letters should be capitalized (with, from, into). Examples: Oral Cancer and Health Research; Nursing Admissions Requirements 
 
health care  Per AP Stylebook, always two words, no hyphen 
 
HIPAA  Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Always use the acronym. 
 
in patient  Not hyphenated, per Merriam-Webster 
 
keyword, key word  Keyword is used in SEO. Key word is a phrase to describe an important word. The key word in our content strategy is keywords. 
 
magazines, journals and animal names  Use upper case and italicize the names of magazines and journals. The first word of an animal name should be capitalized, but the remaining words should be lower case. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Heterocephalus glaber 
 
Military Health Institute  Develops collaborative efforts within the resources of the military system in San Antonio in combination with the articulated strengths of the Health Science Center. 
 
MyChart  Cloud-based information system at the Mays Cancer Center and the MARC. No space between My and Chart, C is capped.  
 
NCI designation   Always referred to in this terminology: the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center in Central and South Texas  
 
OBGYN   Preferred use of the Long School of Medicine 
 
OK  Not okay, OKay or O.K. 
 
orthopaedics  Use the British spelling to match the UT Health Physicians and Long School of Medicine convention.  
 
phone numbers  No parentheses. Example: 210-567-7000 
 
plural apostrophe  Words ending in “s” should not have an additional “s” added after the apostrophe. Rosa Parks’ memorial service 
 
professional accreditations  Do not have periods between the letters. Jane Doe PMP, MACP 
 
professional titles   Follow Associated Press style for titles after a name:  
D.D.S. 
M.D. 
Ph.D.  
In general, degrees get periods, certifications do not. If you are unsure how to use a title, use Google to determine how the granting organization spells the abbreviation and follow that convention:  
MPH 
PA 
PT 
OT 
 
postdoctoral  Per AP Stylebook, no hyphen 
 
said/says  In web copy, said is preferred. 
 
SEO  Search-engine optimization. The acronym is acceptable on first reference. 
 
smartphone  One word 
 
spam 
 
subheads Should be sentence case, complete with period, on website copy.  
 
text   For text message. The word “text” can stand alone. 
 
titles  Per AP Style, capitalize a title if used before a name. A title is lowercased if it appears after a name: 
President John Stamos 
Bart Simpson, director of chaos 
 
Tweet   With a capital T, is the trademarked way to refer to the 140-character messages sent through Twitter  
 
URL (acronym for uniform resource locator) The abbreviation should always be used.) URLs should be lowercase in all instances, regardless of the capitalization rules for a department or building: uthscsa.edu, ctrc.net, utdentistry.org. See also: email 
 
UT Health San Antonio   An officially accepted variation of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, is the preferred first reference for online editorial content. No periods should be placed after the U or the T and no space should be placed between the U and T.  UT Health San Antonio is the approved and preferred second reference. University is an acceptable third reference. Avoid UTHSCSA and UTHSC. For more details on the official naming style for print and acronym preferences, go to the Office of Communications web page on university naming. 
 
voicemail One word 
 
VPN  Virtual private network. Always use the acronym 
 
waitlist   One word when used as a noun. Hyphenate when used as a verb. For example, “Barry was put on the A-reserved waitlist, but Martha was wait-listed for B-reserved parking.” 
 
web page 
 
website 
 
website addresses  See URL entry for more information 
 
wiki, wikis  Always lowercase 
 
women’s  As in women’s health