University of Southern California

Capitalization

Academic degrees

• Use lowercase for bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree.
• Use uppercase for Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science, etc.

Academic programs

• Use lowercase for general education.

Campuses

• University Park Campus; Health Sciences Campus

Department names

• Lowercase, except when used with full names.
  - history department; Department of History

Headlines

• Capitalize the first letter of all words except most prepositions, articles and the second word of a hyphenated compound. Capitalize the second word of a hyphenated compound if it is the last word of a heading or headline. Capitalize the following prepositions: from, through, into.
- Career Center Helps Graduates Jump-Start

Job titles

• Capitalize job titles only when they immediately precede the individual’s name.
  - President C. L. Max Nikias; C. L. Max Nikias, president of USC

Locations

• Capitalize “S” when referring to Southern California, the region.

Majors and programs

• Lowercase academic majors and minors unless the major includes a word that is normally capitalized.
  - history major, English major
• Capitalize formal names of programs.
  - Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program

Offices and departments

• Capitalize formal office names.
  - Orientation Programs, but lowercase orientation
  - USC Alumni Association; but lowercase alumni association
  - USC Bookstore; the bookstore

Sessions and semesters

• Lowercase fall, spring, summer

USC names, schools and campuses

• Capitalize the University of Southern California and USC but lowercase “the university.”
• USC Board of Trustees, USC Board of Directors.
• Trojan Family. Family is uppercase.
• Always use a capital C for Commencement.

Chairs and Professorships

• Capitalize the name of endowed chairs and professorships.
  - Henry Salvatori Chair in Computer Science