About SFU

Our name

Spell out Simon Fraser University (SFU) on first use, and SFU thereafter.

We no longer capitalize the word “university” on its own when referring to SFU in a sentence.  

Example

A number of factors guided the university in updating its policies.

Campuses

For printed and digital materials, do not refer to our campuses as SFU Surrey, SFU Vancouver or SFU Burnaby.

Use

SFU’s Surrey campus, the Surrey campus
SFU’s Vancouver campus, the Vancouver campus
SFU’s Burnaby campus, the Burnaby campus

Examples

• Some students at SFU’s Surrey campus also take classes at the Burnaby campus.
• SFU’s Burnaby and Surrey campuses are closed because of heavy snow.
• SFU students at the Vancouver and Burnaby campuses have been notified.

Schools

When introducing the name of an SFU school or faculty, preface with “SFU” rather than “the.” Market research shows that awareness and favourability increase when individual faculties and departments are associated with the parent brand.

School examples

• On first reference: “Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business” (vs “Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University” or “Simon Fraser University Beedie School of Business”)
• On subsequent reference of SFU: “SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts” (vs. School for the Contemporary Arts at SFU” or “the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts”)
• Subsequent reference of Beedie: “SFU Beedie” (vs. just “Beedie”) or SFU School for the Contemporary Arts

Faculty examples

• On first reference: Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Education
• On subsequent reference of SFU: SFU's Faculty of Environment
  
• Subsequent reference of the faculty: SFU Science
  

Academic senior administrators 

Capitalize the titles of the university president, vice-presidents (VPs) and associate vice-presidents (AVPs) when they immediately precede a person’s name. Do not capitalize a title when it is a partial designation, it follows a name or it is on second reference. Do not capitalize titles preceded by "former" or "acting."  Do not capitalize a title when it appears without a name.

Examples

• SFU President Joy Johnson
  
• Joy Johnson, SFU’s president
• The president
• VP Research Dugan O'Neil
  
• AVP External Relations Joanne Curry
• Dugan O'Neil, vice-president, research
• Catherine Dauvergne, vp academic
• Former president Andrew Petter, acting dean Terry Smith
  

Where possible, refer to a student’s major or program and then, if appropriate, the faculty or school.

Examples

• Jane Wright, a computing science student in SFU’s Faculty of Applied Sciences, is graduating in June 2014.
• Computing science student Jane Wright is graduating in June 2014.

Academic titles

Do not use “Dr.” when referring to professors. “Dr.” should only refer to a health professional such as a physician or dentist.

Do not use the terms "associate" or "assistant" preceding "professor."

Capitalize endowed professorships and fellowships, even when the title comes after a name. If it follows the name, it is preceded by "the" or "SFU’s" to avoid confusion.

Example

• Terry Smith, SFU's Canada Research Chair in Science

Miscellaneous

Specific phrases

Changemaker is all one word. i.e. SFU is a changemaker campus.

Changemaker should only be capitalized when it is a proper noun:  SFU is an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus. SFU is a changemaker campus. We educate changemakers, visionaries and problem-solvers.

Community-engaged should always be hyphenated.

Community-Engaged Research initiative - this is a special phrase used in the VPR portfolio. initiative is not capitalized in this phrase.

SFU Innovates should be referred to as an "innovation strategy," not an "initiative."