Culverhouse and UA Style and Branding Resources

When it comes to a Culverhouse style guide, we default to the style guide provided by The University of Alabama’s Division of Strategic Communications, or StratComm.

StratComm has assembled a huge set of resources ready to maximize the impact of our message across all platforms, whether it is distributed by web, print, social media, radio, etc.

Get more info below:

UA Style and Branding Resources

• UA Brand Home: Logos, “Where Legends Are Made” messaging toolkits, basic design templates, and design standards can be found here.
• Editorial Style Guide (which is based off of AP Style)
• UA Quick Facts

Culverhouse-specific Style and Branding Info

We have an in-house design and communications team that can help with most if not all College-specific needs.

Submit a request or reach out to Zach Thomas, Director of Marketing and Communications, at zthomas@culverhouse.ua.edu.

Abbreviating the Culverhouse College of Business

Avoid using CCB when at all possible. Upon second reference, the Culverhouse College of Business may be shortened to “Culverhouse” or “the College” (see “College” below).

Adopted child

Some people are offended by “adopted child” because it sounds like you are specifying that they are not a biological child, ergo, not a “real” child. Better: “They have five children, one through adoption, two through fostering and two biological.” Or you could say that their “child came home through adoption or joined their family through adoption.”

Ampersand (&) or and?

Ampersands (&) are fine for informal body text. Avoid for headings and more formal situations.

Black, black, African-American…?

Black instead of black or African-American, unless specified by client

Capitalization

Headings and Subheadings

When writing headings and subheadings, you can approach capitalization in one of two ways:

1. You can use sentence case, which means you only capitalize the first word in the heading or subheading, just like you would in a sentence.
   This is an example subheading.
   Sentence case is good for less formal situations like email subjects lines and FAQ web copy.
2. You can use title case, which means you capitalize pretty much everything except articles and other less important words.
   This is an Example Subheading.
   Title case is more formal and, despite AP style, is the default at UA. When in doubt, use this.

College

Use the College (cap) when referring to Culverhouse at large, or a specific college (like Accounting)

culverhouse.ua.edu vs. cba.ua.edu?

When writing out one’s College email, please use the JaneSmith@culverhouse.ua.edu variant vs. the JaneSmith@cba.ua.edu variant. While both work exactly the same, CBA refers to when Culverhouse was known as the College of Commerce and Business Administration. Some legacy systems in the University and the College still refer to Culverhouse as C&BA or CBA and that is not likely to change any time soon. However, the Culverhouse College of Business is a powerful, established brand and by using the @culverhouse.ua.edu email style, we help reinforce that brand.

Note: After October, 2023, all email addresses will revert to @ua.edu, and all @culverhouse.ua.edu and @cba.ua.edu emails will be retired. Avoid including any of the retired emails in Culverhouse publications after that time.

Cyber security or cybersecurity?

Cyber security to follow course catalog.

MBA

Use Full-Time MBA not Traditional MBA or Traditional Path to the MBA

Openly gay or out?

Out instead of “openly gay”; see this article.

Oxford commas?

We use Oxford commas in College-level communications. Since the AP Stylebook is mostly neutral on the matter, we find that the use of Oxford/serial commas lends precision to language.

Resume or résumé?

Resume, which differs from StratComm’s style guide. Make sure from the context, it cannot be confused with the verb.

 

Updated September 25, 2023.