Alumnus (“alumni” in the plural) refers to a man who has graduated from the university.
Alumna (“alumnae” in the plural) refers to a woman who has graduated from the university.
Alumni refers to a group of both men and women graduates.

The term “alum” may be used in informal writing but is best avoided. If you must use the term, make sure your audience knows you’re writing about a person, not the chemical compound of the same name.

Capitalization guidelines are derived from the Associated Press Stylebook, the industry standard for journalists, which is also accepted by many other institutions and corporations.

General rule: When in doubt…use lowercase.

Downstyling is preferred. Use lowercase except when the uppercase is clearly called for, like in a proper name. Academic departments, degree programs and job titles should all be lowercase. The term “university” when not a part of the official name should never be capitalized.

Exceptions:

• Curators’ professorships:  Dr. James J. Bogan Jr., Curators’ Teaching Professor of art history and film
• Named professorships:  XX, the Vernon and Maralee Jones Professor of XX
• When titles precede the name:  Missouri S&T Chancellor John F. Carney III

Event information should include time, date and location, in that order. Commas belong after the day of the week and the date.

Times on the hour should be listed as a single digit.

12 p.m. should be referred to as “noon” and 12 a.m. should be referred to as “midnight.”

Example:  Missouri S&T Orchestra will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15, in Leach Theatre of Castleman Hall.

Numbers 0-9 should be spelled out. Use figures for 10 and above. Exceptions include ages, military and political designations. Note:  always spell out a numeral at the beginning of a sentence.

Telephone numbers should read like this 555-555-5555 with no parentheses around the area code.