Interior signage
Directional signs
Use the full name of the building, school, office, department or division.
- Professional Studies Building
- Van Hoesen Hall
- School of Arts and Sciences
- Human Resources Office
- Political Science Department
- Division of Institutional Advancement
Include the word “Room” with numbers. No hyphen is needed when a letter is associated with the office number.
- Room 307
- Room 1116C
Overhead signs
Use shortened version of names, omitting words such as “building,” “hall,” “school,” “office,” “department” or “division.”
- Professional Studies
- Van Hoesen
- Arts and Sciences
- Human Resources
- Political Science
- Institutional Advancement
List numbers without the word “Room.”
- 307
- 1116C
Faculty and staff names and titles
Use an individual’s official title from the SUNY Cortland Online Directory.
SUNY Cortland class years may follow a person’s name.
- Edward Jackson ’08, M ’10
Do not use courtesy titles such as Dr., Mr., Mrs. or Ms. or suffixes such as Ph.D., M.D., M.F.A., etc.
When a staff member has two or more titles that come from the same department, the titles should be separated with the word "and." If the titles come from two or more departments, the titles should be separated with a semicolon.
- Associate Professor and Chair
- Assistant Professor; Tutor, The Writing Center
Punctuation
Avoid ampersands (&); instead, write out the word “and.”
- Foundations and Social Advocacy Department
- Registrar's Office
Spaces are not necessary on either side of a slash.
- Childhood/Early Childhood Education Department
- Sociology/Anthropology Department
Curve apostrophes and quotation marks.
- Incorrect: Men's Restroom, Women's Restroom
- Correct: Men’s Restroom, Women’s Restroom
Apostrophes with class years should curve away from the number.
- Incorrect: Sharon Connor ‘01
- Correct: Sharon Connor ’01
Exterior signage
To enable quick reading comprehension for visitors driving by, use a shortened version of building names when possible, omitting words such as “building” or “hall.”
- Brockway
- Old Main
- Professional Studies