As per HOP Section 4.2.1, Section C

1. The official University name (The University of Texas-Pan American) should be the first reference in all materials and formal communication.
2. Second reference to the University name is as follows: UT Pan American or UTPA. Do Not Use UT-PA, UT-Pan American or Texas-Pan American (only Athletics Department can use this one reference).
3. “The” is part of the University’s name and should always be included, capitalized, in first reference.
4. There are no spaces in between the short dash of the University name in the first reference (The University of Texas-Pan American). Do Not Use The University of Texas - Pan American (short dash with spaces) or The University of Texas - Pan American (with a long dash and spaces).
5. The official University name in Spanish is “La Universidad de Texas-Pan American.”

Spell out and use the lower case:

• bachelor's degree
• master's degree
• master's
• doctorate
• doctoral degree

If you prefer to abbreviate degrees, be sure to use periods after all the letters (with the exception of MBA - Master of Business Administration and MPA - Master of Public Administration).

• Bachelor of Arts - B.A.
• Master of Arts - M.A.
• Doctor of Philosophy - Ph.D.
• Doctor of Medicine - M.D.
• Doctor of Education - Ed.D.
• Doctor of Laws - LL.D.

Capitalize if referring to a specific department or other academic unit by its official name.



Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.



Lowercase and use periods when using a.m. and p.m. Avoid the redundant 9 a.m. this morning.


Use numbers except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes. Do not use :00.

Also, when writing a time frame covering a time before noon or afternoon use 9-11 a.m. (no spaces in between hyphen) instead of 9 a.m.-11 a.m. Also, avoid redundancies such as 10 a.m. in the morning or 7 p.m. tonight.


Spell out the numbers one through nine. Use figures when using numbers 10 and up.



Use the words “more than” rather than “over” when referring to amounts, numbers, etc.



The word “toward” is rarely used as a plural.



Abbreviate as Jr. and Sr. only with full names of persons or animals. Do not use a comma before Jr. in a name.



The ampersand (&) character should not be used in place of “and” unless it’s part of a company’s formal name such as Procter & Gamble.


In general, confine capitalization to formal titles used directly before an individual’s name.

Lowercase and spell out titles directly after an individual’s name.



Capitalize the “I” in “Internet” according to Webster’s Dictionary and AP Stylebook.


Capitalize the “E” in “E-mail” when used as a noun and lowercase “e” when used as a verb. Example: Please e-mail the photo. (According to Webster’s Dictionary and AP Stylebook.)


The word “Web site” should be spelled out as two words with a capital “W” and the word “Web” should be capitalized as well according to Webster’s Dictionary and AP Stylebook.