Editorial Style Guide

Steinhardt-Specific Editorial Rules

: In most cases, especially across Steinhardt-owned communications, use “NYU Steinhardt” on the first instance and “Steinhardt” on subsequent references.
For formal occasions, use the full name of the School, “NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development,” on first instance. Afterwards, use “NYU Steinhardt” or “Steinhardt.”
Include commas after both “Education” and “Human Development.”
Never replace the “and” with an ampersand.
Capitalize “School” when referring to NYU Steinhardt specifically but lowercase for schools in general:
A focus on inclusion is one of the School’s hallmarks.
She taught at a local school.
: Use the gender-inclusive “alum” for singular and “alumni” for plural. Avoid “alumnus,” “alumna,” or “alumnae.”
Capitalize “class” when referring to a specific graduating class:
They were part of the Class of 2014.
Immediately after an alum’s name, put their degree information in parentheses starting with the abbreviated degree and the two-number year preceded by an apostrophe (or, for clarity on 1800s or early 1900s alumni, the four-number year without an apostrophe), then the program of study:
John Roe (BS ’15, Applied Psychology) spoke to students.
Jane Doe (BS 1901, Education) founded the organization.
When limited degree information is available, include the information that can be verified:
We hosted John Roe (MA ’97) for an event.
Jane Doe (PhD, Teaching and Learning) won the award.
For alumni with multiple Steinhardt degrees, include their degrees in chronological order, separated by a semicolon:
John Roe (MA ’07, Speech-Language Pathology; PhD ’19, Communicative Sciences and Disorders) lives in NYC.
When writing about alumni from multiple NYU schools, specify the year of graduation and the school of study for non-Steinhardt graduates. For Steinhardt alumni, include the complete convention above, preceded by “Steinhardt”:
Jane Doe (Tisch ’13) and John Roe (Steinhardt BS ’80, Physical Therapy) spoke at the event.
For apostrophes preceding two-number graduation years, in alignment with Chicago Manual of Style guidance on “smart” apostrophes, use a right single quotation mark/apostrophe, defined for Unicode as U+2019. The apostrophe will look like it is swooping away from the year:
Jane Doe (BS ’18, English Education)—not '18, `18, or ‘18.
: Use when part of a formal or company name:
AT&T, S&P 500, Texas A&M University
In other cases, do not use ampersands as a substitute for the word “and,” except for commonly accepted abbreviations:
R&B, Q&A, R&D, PB&J
: In an update to prior guidance, Steinhardt now follows the NYU Editorial Guide and Chicago Manual of Style conventions around the use of dashes, including using the em dash without spaces to set off an amplifying or explanatory element (CMOS 6.91).
For more information, refer to the section on en dashes in the NYU Editorial Guide and The Chicago Manual of Style guidance on hyphens and dashes.
: Use lowercase when referring to general academic concentrations, with the exception of languages, which are proper nouns:
He studied media ecology.
They are an English student.
Use title case for the official names of majors, minors, and degree programs:
She is a Media, Culture, and Communication major.
Adding in a Food Studies minor can round out your degree experience.
Alumni of the Applied Psychology program are invited.
Use “bachelor’s” and “master’s” as adjectives (lowercased, with apostrophe included):
bachelor’s students
master’s degree
In running text, lowercase academic degree names:
He received his bachelor of science from Hofstra University.
For academic degree abbreviations, use the appropriate Chicago Manual of Style degree abbreviation without periods, offset by commas in running text when following a name:
Our MAT in English Education offers hands-on experience.
Jane Doe, EdD, will attend.
Capitalize the word “program” when it is part of the name of a distinctive NYU program:
Liberal Studies Program
Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Program in Social Entrepreneurship
In most other cases, lowercase the word “program,” even when using it alongside the capitalized name of a degree program.
Two faculty members joined NYU Steinhardt’s Developmental Psychology program.
Learn more about our Art Therapy master’s program.
: Capitalize seasons when referring to an academic term or semester:
She will graduate in Spring 2026.
Apply now for Fall term.
For general seasonal references, lowercase:
This summer, our students volunteered across NYC.
: advisor
course work
healthcare
well-being
: Use apostrophe + s (’s) for the possessive form of singular nouns and singular proper nouns, even if they end in an s already:
the School’s faculty
James’s research projects
Venus’s atmosphere
For additional guidance, use The Chicago Manual of Style on possessives.
: Follow the time guidance set by the NYU Editorial Guide. Pay special attention to the inclusion of time zones, as the Steinhardt community and external audiences may have different local times for remote events, deadlines, etc.

For all other editorial needs:

After checking the Steinhardt-specific rules listed above, the next point of reference should be the NYU Editorial Guide; then, the The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) will provide additional guidance. NYU community members have access to CMOS through NYU Libraries.

For words not mentioned here or in the NYU Editorial Guide, use the first-listed option in the Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.

Where these resources disagree, this is the order of authority for NYU Steinhardt:

Steinhardt editorial style guide and web writing guidelines, then
NYU Editorial Guide, then
Chicago Manual of Style, then
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.

As an example, we at NYU Steinhardt prefer the spelling “advisor,” while the NYU Editorial Guide lists “adviser.” You would therefore use “advisor,” because our School-specific guide has higher authority here.