UT Department System: Naming Standards

Because The University of Texas comprises a vast number of organizations (departments, sub-departments, offices, and colleges), guidelines have been created to standardize how these entities are identified. Naming standards ensure that titles used by University staff members are consistent in length and style. This document reviews guidelines for creating Sort Titles, Short Titles, and Sub-department Titles.

Introduction

An official title is the complete, unique, and administratively-approved name assigned to an institutional organization. Official titles are included in reports generated for regulatory agencies or legislative bodies and should not contain abbreviations other than those that occur in a person's name.

A sort title is used to quickly identify a university organization on a list, such as the university directory. Because the list is sorted by key words, a sort title places primary terms from the official title at the beginning of the entry.

A short title is a brief (22 characters or fewer) designator used when space is limited (such as in presentations or reports). Only the most significant or commonly used terms are retained from the official title. Abbreviations may be used to maintain the length requirement, but they should be avoided if the title is short.

A sub-department title needn't be unique, since it's affiliated with an official department; the title of a sub-department always appears in the context of its official department. As such, many university departments might have a sub-department called Administrative Services, but each is distinguished by its titular relationship with the official department. Within the official department, however, each sub-department should have a unique title.

Some general naming guidelines follow:

Sort Title Naming Standards

A sort title is identical to the university organization's official title, except that articles (e.g., a , an, the) and other non-substantive words and phrases are moved to the end and preceded by a comma. The following sections provide instructions for creating sort titles and offer examples.

Titles without proper names

Most official titles describe the type of organization and its primary purpose/function. To help users locate individual entries in a list, begin sort titles with the organization's main focus and move articles and generic information to the end, as shown in the following examples.

Official title Sort title
Center for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origin Antiquity and Christian Origins, Center for the Study of
College of Engineering Engineering, College of
Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management Information, Risk, and Operations Management, Department of
Laboratory of Electrochemistry Electrochemistry, Laboratory of
Office of the Vice President for Employee and Campus Services Employee and Campus Services, Office of the Vice President for
The Daily Texan Daily Texan, The

If the word or phrase that describes the organization's focus occurs at the end of the official title or is not included, then the official title may be used as the sort title.

Official title Sort title
Equal Opportunity Services Equal Opportunity Services
Imaging Research Center Imaging Research Center
Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Intercollegiate Athletics for Women

Titles that include proper names

If the official title begins with the name of a person or an association, move the name and any related words or phrases to the end of the title.

Official title Sort title
Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation Civic Participation, Annette Strauss Institute for
EDS Financial Trading and Technology Center Financial Trading and Technology Center, EDS
Jack Blanton Museum of Art Art, Jack Blanton Museum of
Red McCombs School of Business Business, Red McCombs School of

If the official title does not identify the university organization's field of interest, then the sort title should matches the official title.

Official title Sort title
Charles A. Dana Center Charles A. Dana Center
John Nance Garner Museum John Nance Garner Museum
Paisano Project Paisano Project

Titles that begin with University-related identifiers

If the term Texas, University, UT, or Longhorn occurs at the beginning of the official title, it should also appear at the beginning of the sort title.

Official title Sort title
Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center Texas Swimming Center, Lee and Joe Jamail
Texas Center for Disability Studies Texas Center for Disability Studies
University Child Development Center University Child Development Center
Longhorn Band Longhorn Band
Longhorn Aquatics Longhorn Aquatics

Department Short Title Naming Standards

Short titles are used on screens or reports where space is limited or where the context does not require a full title. In certain listings, shorter titles may be more concise and easier to read. The goal is to make the short title as recognizable as possible within 22 characters. Therefore, short titles do not all follow a single pattern.

Standards

To improve clarity and recognition, the descriptive portion of the title usually appears first. Short titles are more often derived from the sort title than from the official title. Words for division types, such as office, center, college, school, department, and section, are typically omitted.

Original Short title
Office of the Vice President for Employee and Campus Services Empl & Campus Svcs VP
Department of Germanic Studies Germanic Studies
Section of Integrative Biology Integrative Biology

However, when the division type constitutes part of the organization's common name or when two organizations have similar names, retain the term in the short title.

Original Short title
Frank C Erwin, Jr. Special Events Center Frank Erwin Center
Center for Middle Eastern Studies Middle East Stds Ctr
Department of Middle Eastern Studies Middle East Stds Dept

If the organization's sort title contains 22 or fewer characters, use it unchanged for the short title.

Original Short title
International Office International Office
Department of English English

Spell out all words if possible; otherwise, use standard abbreviations.

Whenever possible, place abbreviated words at the end of the title to more closely match the order of the longer sort titles.

Official title Sort title
Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology Molecular Cell/Dev Bio

For very long titles, use the first few words of the sort title or abbreviate all the words, being certain that the organization's name remains recognizable.

Official title Sort title
Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology Molecular Genetics
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Russia/E Euro Eurasia

If an organization is named for a person or group, retain the name in the short title. Academic departments (schools, colleges, ORUs) generally list the discipline first, but the choice might depend on what the department is commonly called.

Official title Sort title
Harry Huntt Ransom Humanities Research Center Public Affairs, LBJ, Harry Ransom Center
Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center Texas Swim Center

If University , Texas, or University of Texas is part of the full name of the department, acknowledge the term in the short title if possible

Official title Sort title
University of Texas Elementary School UT Elementary School
University Police Department U Police Department
Texas Advanced Computing Center Tx Advanced Computing

Use an acronym or initialism in a short title only if the organization is generally known by the abbreviation.

Official title Sort title
Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences ICES
ITS Telecommunications and Networking ITS Telecom & Net

Do not include the official department name in short titles for sub-departments.

Unless they will conveniently fit, omit prepositions (on, in, for, etc.) in short titles.

Use hyphens only in hyphenated words.

If you use an ampersand (&), include spaces before and after it: Admin & Professional.

If there isn't room for and or an ampersand, use a virgule (/) to link terms: Research/Development.

No spaces are needed between characters in acronyms and initialisms: ACES, TRECS, HRS.

Sub-department Naming Standards

For more information on naming conventions, refer to the Department Directory http://www.utexas.edu/directory/offices/.