Bates Style Guidelines

The following style guidelines focus on specific Bates style and exceptions to the college’s adherence to Associated Press style (exceptions are indicated by an asterisk*).

*academic degrees: Lowercase the full names of academic degrees: bachelor of science, bachelor of arts, master of arts, doctor of philosophy. Lowercase the specific discipline unless the degree includes a proper noun like “English.” Do not refer to “her” or “his” degree. Always use the apostrophe S:

  • right: She has a B.A. in history.
  • right: He has a bachelor’s degree in English.
  • right: She has a bachelor’s in education.
  • wrong: He has a Masters in Education.
  • wrong: She has her doctorate. (Should be “a” doctorate.)

academic departments and programs: Capitalize only the formal name, e.g., the Department of History. Lowercase informal references, history department, English department:

  • correct: The history department is in Pettengill Hall.
  • correct: The Department of History is well-regarded.

For interdisciplinary programs, the formal name uses the phrase Program in, as in the Program in Environmental Studies, the Program in Africana. An informal reference would be:

  • The professor has joined the environmental studies program.

A formal use would be:

  • Bates has an excellent Program in Environmental Studies.

When both formal and informal program styles are employed in a sentence, capitalize the names of disciplines that otherwise would be lowercased. In the example below, the words Politics, History and Anthropology were uppercased to match the capitalization of the formal program name in the first sentence:

  • The series is sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies and the Program in Classical and Medieval Studies. Additional support has been provided by the Politics and History departments.

See the Bates College Catalog for complete lists of programs and departments.

administrative departments: Preferred usage is “Name-office,” e.g., Advancement office, Admission office, Dean of Students office. Also capitalize stand-alone references:

  • The president involved College Advancement and Admission to create the publication.

*adviser/advisor: An exception to the AP preference, Bates uses “advisor” in most instances, including:

  • junior advisor
  • student support advisor
  • community advisor
  • academic advisor

alphabetizing, lists and rosters: For donor lists or memorial lists, alphabetize by the person’s current last name. Do include class years. Do not include courtesy titles (Dr., Ms., Mrs.) or academic degrees (Ph.D.), e.g.:

Robert L. Brown ’89
Helen Hughes Burke ’45
Anne Cassidy Callahan P’16
Penelope Moskovis Caracandas ’85, P’19
Dolores Carbonneau

See: Bates Person Name Style.

alumni, alumnus, alumna, alumnae:

A person is a member of the Bates Alumni Association if they have attended Bates for a semester or more and wishes to be identified as a member.

  • alumni (pronounced “-nie,” as in “pie”) is a plural that describes a group of women and men; a group of men; or a group that includes non-binary individuals
  • alum or alums is acceptable for gender-neutral singular or plural
  • alumnus is a male
  • alumna is a female
  • alumnae (pronounced “-nee” at the end) is plural female

Alumni Council: When possible refer to this group as the Alumni Council of the Alumni Association. Lowercase all references to “the council.” Note: the president of this group is the president of the Alumni Association, not president of the Alumni Council:

  • Jennifer Lemkin Bouchard ’99, in her role as president of the Alumni Association, welcomed the crowd to Reunion.

Amore ac Studio: Italicize the motto of the college. The translation is “With Ardor and Devotion.” If using the motto and translation in a sentence, employ this style: The motto of Bates College is Amore ac Studio, “With Ardor and Devotion.”

Athletics: lowercase team and program names: men’s basketball, baseball, softball, field hockey.

Bates: the possessive is Bates’.

The Bates Campaign: The name of the campaign completed in 2022 was The Bates Campaign. In shortened or second reference, it is called the Campaign. Examples:

  • We celebrate major gifts to The Bates Campaign because they sustain excellence.
  • Those who are interested in Bates should pay attention to the progress of the Campaign.

Batesie: The term may be used in communications but is generally avoided.

Bates Magazine: The contemporary name. Founded as The Bates Alumnus, previous iterations have included The Bates Bulletin Alumnus Issue and Bates: The Alumni Magazine.

Bates Fund: Lowercase all standalone references to “the fund.” Do not capitalize “the” before the name: We give to the Bates Fund, and we look forward to giving to the fund year after year.

BatesNews: The weekly college email newsletter produced by the Bates Communications and Marketing Office is italicized.

Black: Capitalize when referring to people and cultures of African origin. E.g., “The book explores how Black writers of speculative fiction think about the intersection of Blackness and disability.” The word “white” in racial contexts is not capitalized.

Board of Trustees: Uppercase the full name of the Bates unicameral board, the Board of Trustees; uppercase “Trustee” as a title before a name: The award went to Trustee Mike Bonney. Lowercase in other uses: She served as a trustee from 1985 to 1990; and lowercase references to the board.

Bobcat: Avoid gendering the Bobcat. The Bobcat does not have a nickname, such as “Bob.” The Bobcat led the Alumni Parade at Reunion.

buildings: Avoid nicknames, especially the Cage for Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building or the Silo for the Benjamin E. Mays Center. On first reference in formal writing, try to use the full name of buildings. Always lowercase the name of ongoing building projects — new student housing — to avoid the visual appearance that these projects have already been named.

See: Bates Place Names.

CBB: The accepted acronym describing any joint ventures, athletic or otherwise, involving Colby, Bates and Bowdoin colleges.

Class of: Capitalize references to Bates graduation classes: He is a member of the Class of ’72 or He is a member of the Class of 1972. See class years below.

class agent: Lowercase

class years: See page for Bates Person Name Style.

college: Do not capitalize “the college” when the phrase is a substitution for “Bates”: I love the college, We traveled to the college.

*commas: Bates uses the serial, or Oxford, comma in a simple series: He owns a Dodge, a Plymouth, and a Chevy. 

committees: Capitalize standing committees at Bates, whether committees of the Board of Trustees, the Alumni Council, or faculty: the Committee on College Infrastructure; the Academic Standing Committee. Lowercase informal use: He’s a member of the search committee.

Commencement: Capitalize names of major Bates events.

Convocation: The full name of the fall gathering that celebrates the beginning of the academic year is Opening Convocation.

course names: Place the full name of a course names in quotations: He took “Life, Sex, and Cells” from Sharon Kinsman. Note: Use the word course to describe the entire unit; use class to describe individual sessions.

dean’s list: Lowercase always.

emeritus/emerita: The word is used directly after the person’s rank: Professor Emeritus of History James S. Leamon ’55, or Ann B. Scott, professor emerita of music (note the rule of lowercasing a title after name). Emeriti rank of a teaching faculty is always raised to full professor. For example, an associate professor of history becomes professor emerita (woman) or emeritus (man) of history.

Exception: lecturers remain lecturers when granted emeriti status: Marcy Plavin is a lecturer emerita in dance (note “in” not “of”).

fellow, fellowship: Lowercase when used alone: She is a fellow of the Bates Career Development Center. Capitalize in combination with the name of a granting department: She is a Bates Career Development Center Fellow.

first-year: Use “first-year student” instead of “first-year” when referring an individual member of the youngest Bates class — He’s a first-year student without a care in the world.

honorary degree: Bates awards the following honorary degrees:

abbreviation        degree                     color of band on hood
D.D.                Doctor of Divinity         red
LL.D.               Doctor of Laws             purple
L.H.D.              Doctor of Humane Letters   white
D.F.A.              Doctor of Fine Arts        brown
D.Sc.               Doctor of Science          yellow (gold)
D.Lit. or Litt.D.   Doctor of Letters          white
D.Mus.              Doctor of Music            pink

Capitalize the degree when writing about it: William Cronon received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree at Commencement 2013.

See: Bates Person Name Style.

honorary class: A Bates graduating class can bestow honorary classmate status on anyone they choose. Often, the honor is granted to non-alumni widows or widowers of classmates. In communications, the H designation is reserved for rosters and lists where communicating the person’s affiliation (alum, parent, friend, grandparent) is necessary. Use this construction: John Smith HC’55.

Indiginous: capitalize when referring broadly to “peoples of long settlement and connection to specific lands who have been adversely affected by incursions by industrial economies, displacement, and settlement of their traditional territories by others.”

library: the George and Helen Ladd Library, Ladd Library, the library.

maiden name/Bates name: In most uses, include an alumna’s name as it was in college: Marianne Nolan Cowan ’92, rather than Marianne Cowan ’92. See page for Bates Person Name Style.

Lewiston and Auburn: Abbreviate the area as L-A using a hyphen: The grants were given to L-A organizations.

Mount David Summit: Always spell out “Mount” when describing the annual campus-wide celebration of student academic achievement.

Museum of Art: Refer to the college museum by its full name, the Bates College Museum of Art in first references. Second references can be to the Museum of Art or the museum. Refer to the museum’s location in the Olin Arts Center when appropriate (such as explaining where it is on campus), but always avoid constructions such as the Olin Arts Museum.

  • correct: The Bates College Museum of Art is located within the Olin Arts Center.
  • wrong: The Olin Art Museum is at Bates College.

native: Avoid using in constructions such as “they are a native of Lewiston,” unless the person is Indigenous to the location. Use “they were born in Lewiston.”

Olin Arts Center Concert Hall: Note correct title.

Parents & Family Association: Note use of ampersand.

periods: Just one space, not two, after a sentence-ending period. Word-processing and layout software provide the appropriate spacing.

professor: Appropriate to use when referencing a group of faculty members; otherwise use the specific rank of assistant professor, lecturer.

  • correct: At Bates, students work with professors.
  • correct: Bates students work with John Doe, assistant professor of history.
  • correct: Bates students work with faculty members like John Doe.
  • acceptable: We need to recruit a professor like John Doe.

professorships: A named professorship is considered a proper noun phrase and thus always capitalized.

  • Use the preposition in when referring to the professorship alone: the Christian A. Johnson Professorship in Interdisciplinary Studies.
  • Use the preposition of when referring to the holder: Holly Ewing, the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies.
  • When a faculty member has two appointments the endowed professorship is listed second: Holly Ewing, professor of environmental studies and the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Reunion: Capitalize all references to the annual Bates alumni gathering in June.

  • Use numbers to refer to all Reunions, including the initial one: He celebrated his 5th Reunion last year.
  • Capitalize references to the committee that organizes a class reunion: the Reunion Committee, the Reunion Gift Committee. Lowercase in shortened references: He chaired the committee.
  • Informal Bates gatherings among friends during the year are called mini-Reunions.

Senior Class Gift: references to the financial gift presented to Bates by the graduating class: the Senior Class Gift, the Senior Gift, the Class Gift, the gift.

*states: use these abbreviations when writing city-AND-state constructions, such as Worcester, Mass. Otherwise, spell out states when used alone:

  • Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kan., Ky., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont, Neb., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.M., N.Y., N.D. Okla., Ore., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.D., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis.
  • Eight state names are always spelled out: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio ,Texas and Utah.
  • correct: He was born in Salem, Mass., in 1963.
  • wrong: He works in Portland, ME.
  • correct: He works in California.

time: In sentences, use numbers plus a.m. and p.m. (note periods), except for noon or midnight. Do not include the :00 for 10 a.m., 11 a.m. For event listings, see Editorial Style for Events and Schedules.

  • correct: He arrived at 10 a.m.
  • correct: The 10:30 p.m. deadline came and went.
  • wrong: He left on the 10:00 a.m. bus.
  • correct: He ate lunch at noon.
  • wrong: At 12 noon, he was unhappy.
  • wrong/redundant: He had breakfast at 9 a.m. in the morning.

titles, Bates: capitalize the full faculty member’s or staff member’s title before the name, lowercase after. Capitalize named/endowed professorships: John R. Cole, Thomas Hedley Reynolds Professor of History, gave a talk. Do not use “professor” or other academic or administrative title as a courtesy title.

  • correct: Professor of Political Science Douglas Hodgkin met with Sawyer Sylvester, professor of sociology.
  • avoid: Professor Douglas Hodgkin met with Vice President John Doe.
  • Exception: In a list or roster (of committee members, panel participants, etc.) titles can be capitalized, except for “student”:

William Karz ’03, student
John Smith, Associate Vice President for Bates Express Mail
John Pribram, Professor of Physics

transgender: Use the pronoun that a person prefers. To avoid pronoun confusion when examining the stories and backgrounds of transgender people prior to their transition, the GLAAD media guide recommends reporting on and establishing transgender people’s stories from the present day, not narrating them from some point or multiple points in the past, which could create confusion and lead to potentially disrespectful use of incorrect pronouns.

Trustee: see Board of Trustees.

university names: When referring to a university and its campus, check the institution’s website for how it treats the construction.