University Communications and Marketing
Brand Guidelines

Tufts-Specific Names and Terms

Campuses

  • the Medford/Somerville campus
  • the Boston health sciences campus or Tufts’ health sciences campus
  • the Boston SMFA campus or the SMFA campus
  • the Grafton campus 

Cummings School-specific spaces

Foster Hospital for Small Animals at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts (full reference, with “Veterinary Medical Center”). On first reference, use “Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals.” On second reference, use “Foster Hospital for Small Animals.” Acceptable acronym: FHSA. 

Hospital for Large Animals at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts. On first or second reference, use “Hospital for Large Animals.” Alternate reference, “Large Animal Hospital.” Acceptable acronym: HLA. 

Tufts Veterinary Field Service. Acceptable acronym: TVFS. Neither Tufts Field Service nor Ambulatory Service should be used any longer. 
Tufts Veterinary Emergency Treatment & Specialties at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts. On first reference alone, use “Tufts Veterinary Emergency Treatment & Specialties.” On second reference, use “Tufts VETS.” Acceptable acronym: Tufts VETS. 

Tufts Wildlife Clinic at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts. On first or second reference, use “Tufts Wildlife Clinic.” 

Luke and Lily Lerner Spay/Neuter Clinic at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts (full formal name). On first reference, use “Luke and Lily Lerner Spay/Neuter Clinic.” On second reference, use “Lerner Spay/Neuter Clinic.” Acceptable acronym: LSNC. 

Tufts at Tech Community Veterinary Clinic at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts (full formal name). On first reference, use “Tufts at Tech Community Veterinary Clinic.” On second reference, use “Tufts at Tech.” 

Capital Campaign

Brighter World: The Campaign for Tufts. Whenever you refer to Brighter World in text, it should be italicized with initial caps. It is not necessary to precede Brighter World with “a” or “the.” 
 
On a document that is branded with the campaign logo, there’s no need to follow Brighter World with The Campaign for Tufts. When there is no logo, the full name of the campaign should be written out in italics the first time it’s mentioned. Subsequent mentions can be just Brighter World. 
   
Example: “Brighter World: The Campaign for Tufts was a university-wide effort.” (Note italics, colon, and capitalization.) 

Class years and codes

Capitalize the word “class” when referring to a specific class: the Class of 1994. 

The names of all alumni should be followed by a comma and then a letter that designates the school affiliation followed by a number (no space, no apostrophe) indicating year of graduation. 

Harry Smithers, A92 (not Harry Smithers, A’92). In a sentence, it would be followed by a comma: Harry Smithers, A92, has been named CFO of United Sports Cars. 

Note: Women graduates from the Class of 2002 to the present are designated with the letter “A” or “E.” Women graduates before 2002 are designated with the letter “J” or “E.” 

Formatting for couples

  • Two alumni: Denise, A92, and John Doe, J92
  • One alum, one nonalum: Dr. Alphonse F. Calvanese, M78, and Mrs. Debra A. Calvanese
  • Two nonalumni: Denise and John Doe 

Name and code (degree, institutional suffix) recognition guidelines

Currently, the Friedman School does not include codes in recognition lists; Cummings School includes codes for both graduates and donors who are not graduates. 
 
Order codes as they come from Advance (People can override Advance for their preferred order.): 
Mr. William S. Cummings, A58, H06, J97P, M97P 
 
If you are combining degrees with class years: 
David J. McGrath III, M.S., D.V.M., V86, AG83, A11P, A15P 
 
People who attended Tufts but didn’t graduate are technically considered alumni. 
 
When someone holds multiple degrees, list the degrees in the order that puts the degree that takes the longest to attain last. A Ph.D. takes longer than a D.V.M. to attain, so it would be listed second. Recognizing that which degree took longer may not always be clear, consider this more of an art than a science and do your best. 

School codes

A = School of Arts and Sciences 
AG = Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 
BOUVE = Bouve-Boston School of Physical Education 
BOUVE graduates are indicated by their class year only, with no school letter (e.g., Jeanne Ashworth ‘60; they are not Jackson graduates.) 
BSOT = Boston School of Occupational Therapy 
CRANE = Crane Theological School 
D = School of Dental Medicine 
D43A and D43B = School of Dental Medicine had two classes due to World War II.
D75A = School of Dental Medicine class that graduated in 1975 is uniquely referred to as D75A
MSD93 = Indicates those who have earned a Master's Degree at TUSDM
DI = School of Dental Medicine International program for foreign-trained dentists. This program is currently 2.5 years. 
E = School of Engineering 
EG = Graduate School of Engineering 
Eliot-Pearson = Eliot-Pearson 
F = Fletcher (note: not FG and not GMAP, but those can be mentioned) 
GBS = Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences 
H = Honorary 
J = Jackson College (for women with liberal arts degrees who graduated before 2002) 
M = School of Medicine (Note: See below for more specific information for the School of Medicine.) 
MG = School of Medicine (M.B.S., M.S., M.P.H., P.A. programs) 
N = Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy 
NG = Friedman doctoral graduates 
PH = Public Health and Professional Degree programs 
School of Museum of Fine Arts
V = Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine 
VG = Cummings graduate students (M.S., MAPP, Ph.D. programs) 
VI = Cummings current/past interns 
VR = Cummings current/past residents 
(Note: Advance does not use VI or VR, so those need to be verified with Cummings staff.) 
 

School of Medicine degrees 

  • Standard suffix for PHPD alumni is MG, followed by degree in parentheses:
  • M.P.H.: Master’s in Public Health—so MG12 (MPH)
  • M.B.S.: Master’s in Biomedical Science—so MG12 (MBS)
  • Health Comm.: Master’s in Health Communications—so MG12 (Health Comm.)
  • PREP: Master’s in Pain Research, Education, and Policy—so MG12 (PREP)
  • P.A.: Physician Assistant—so MG12 (PA) 

Examples of the GBS use: 

  • Sara Rodriguez, GBSXX (Program Name) (each word is capitalized in the program name)
  • Sara Rodriguez, GBS18 (Molecular Microbiology)
  • Sara Rodriguez, GBS18 (Molecular Microbiology), has been awarded the XYZ Prize.  (In a sentence, a comma is placed after the program name.)  

Parents 

Typically, the parent designation (P) is not used in editorial writing. The following guidelines refer to advancement and other communications.

The parent of a Tufts student should be listed as Mary Jones, A04P.
 
If both parents are alums: Ethan Stone, A80, A14P, and Hilary Stone, J79, A14P, or Ethan, A80, A14P, and Hilary Stone, J79, A14P. 

If one parent is an alum and one isn’t: Dr. Edward T. Gordon, A44, M47, A72P, M76P, E77P, EG77P, and Mrs. Claire Gordon, A72P, M76P, E77P, EG77P, or Dr. and Mrs. Edward T. Gordon, A44, M47, A72P, M76P, E77P, EG77P. 
 
If neither is an alum: Hege and Neil Nolop, A11P, E13P, or Mark Taylor and Ilene Wasserman, A10P, A12P.

Offices and Divisions  

  • Use Government and Community Relations, not Office of Government and Community Relations (and GCR instead of OGCR).

Programs 

Tufts 1+4 Bridge-Year Service Learning Program (shortens to Tufts 1+4). Participants cannot be referred to as students. Rather, they are Tufts 1+4 Bridge-Year fellows. 

  • the Experimental College at Tufts University (ExCollege on second reference)
  • the Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter (preceded by “the” and “Tufts” is italicized) or Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter (not preceded by “the” and “Tufts” is not italicized). 

School names

On first reference, use the following:
  • Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University or Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine (Note: no “The”)
  • The Fletcher School
  • The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy (full/formal name) or the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University or the Friedman School
  • The Gordon Institute
  • Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. In fundraising materials, remove USDA. Use “the HNRCA” as an abbreviation.
  • the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life
  • Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences (do not use &)
  • School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Accepted abbreviated name: SMFA at Tufts. 

Note: Do not use “the SMFA at Tufts” or “the SMFA”—we do not use “the.” Never use “SMFA@Tufts.” You can say “SMFA” if you already used the full name elsewhere. “Museum School” is an informal nickname and not the school’s formal name. You can use this in speech and in informal documents. Do not use “Museum School” on public-facing invitations or documents.

Note: The following disclaimer must be included on every piece (print or digital), unless specifically okayed to be left off: “SMFA and the SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS are trademarks of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and are used by permission.” 

  • Tufts University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
  • Tufts University School of Engineering
  • Tufts University School of Dental Medicine
  • Tufts University School of Medicine
  • Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (“at Tufts University” can be added but is not necessary) 
On second reference, acceptable variations include: 
  • Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine or Cummings School on second reference (not TCSVM or just Cummings)
  • The Fletcher School
  • the Friedman School (never just “Friedman”)
  • the HNRCA
  • Tisch College
  • the School of Arts and Sciences (do not use &)
  • SMFA at Tufts or SMFA at Tufts University (not SMFA@Tufts) Note: Do not put “the” in front of SMFA when using the school name alone. Only use “the” when SMFA modifies a noun (e.g., the SMFA library).
  • GSAS or the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
  • the School of Engineering
  • the School of Dental Medicine
  • the School of Medicine
  • GSBS (for Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences) 

SMFA faculty

First reference:

Jane Gillooly, chair of the Department of Media Arts at the School of Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts (SMFA) and professor of the practice in film and animation, debuted her documentary on October 21. 
Mags Harries, professor of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Art at Tufts (SMFA), received a Design Award of Honor from the American Society of Landscape Architects. 

Second reference: 

Mike Mandel, an SMFA lecturer, and Chantal Zakari, an SMFA professor of the practice, will have their work included at the Boston Art Book Fair. 

SMFA alumni

Khaldoun Hijazin AG14 (MFA) 
Christine Tobin A90 (Note: BFA is not included in parentheses)

* If you have some other way to reflect the BFA or MFA (e.g., written out in the text of a story), that is also an acceptable way to communicate that this is a degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.