Academic terms

Alumnus – a neutral term for graduates of any gender
Alumni – a neutral term for multiple graduates of any gender
Alum/alums – avoid using this term

Emeritus – a neutral term for professors of any gender who have retired with distinction
Emeriti - a neutral term for multiple professors of any gender who have retired with distinction

“Faculty” may be singular or plural. Use “faculty members” if you don’t like using faculty as a plural noun.

Examples

• There are 14 faculty members in the department.
• The department has 14 faculty.

Honorary doctorate, honorary degree – For these two terms, honorary is not spelled ‘honourary’ as would be expected in Canadian spelling. But, an “honours” degree or a degree with “honours” is correct.

While the prefix “post” usually takes a hyphen, it does not take a hyphen for postdoctoral, postdoctorate, postgraduate. Post-secondary is hyphenated.

Do not hyphenate “grade point average” (GPA) or “cumulative grade point average” (CGPA). When giving a student’s GPA, reference it to the highest available GPA (4.33).

Example

Dominique Dunne, an engineering science student, earned a grade point average of 3.6 out of a possible 4.33.