AHS- and UIC-specific terminology

Guidelines Heading link

Writing about AHS

Our college’s full name is the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Applied Health Sciences.
This can be shortened to UIC College of Applied Health Sciences or College of Applied Health Sciences.
We are never the College of Applied Health or the College of Applied Health Science.

Abbreviate as AHS, not CAHS.

Refer to AHS as “we,” not “it.”

Use the full name rather than the acronym on first reference. Unless subsequent references follow promptly after the first, spell out the name each time.

Departments

Capitalize a formal department name, preferably preceded by “the UIC” or “UIC’s”:

  • Department of Disability and Human Development
  • The UIC Department of Disability and Human Development
  • UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development

When inverting the order of the words, lowercase all of them

  • the occupational therapy department

Subsequent references should be written simply as:

  • the department

In describing the relationship between a department and AHS, the correct phrasing is that the department is in the college, not of the college:

  • The Department of Occupational Therapy in the College of Applied Health Sciences

Programs

Capitalize a formal  program name, preferably preceded by “the UIC” or “UIC’s”:

  • The UIC Program in Health Informatics
  • UIC’s Program in Health Informatics

When inverting the order of the words, lowercase all of them:

  • the health informatics program

Subsequent references should be written simply as:

  • the program

 

AHS terms

Buildings: Spell out building names on first reference. Unless subsequent references follow promptly after the first, spell out the name each time.

AHSB: Applied Health Sciences Building
CMET: College of Medicine East Tower
DHSP: Disability, Health and Social Policy Building
PEB: Physical Education Building

Degree abbreviations: In general, avoid abbreviating department names on the website or in other materials for external audiences. The following abbreviations are acceptable in indicating a student or alumnus degree program, e.g., “Jane Doe ’13 MS HI”

BHI: Biomedical and health informatics
BVIS: Biomedical visualization
DIS: Disability studies
DHD: Disability and human development
HI: Health informatics
HIM: Health information management
KN: Kinesiology and nutrition
KINES: Kinesiology
NUT: Nutrition
OT: Occupational therapy
PT: Physical therapy
RS: Rehabilitation sciences

Departments: There are five academic departments in our college:

Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences (not Science)
Department of Disability and Human Development (not Disability Studies)
Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition (not Human Nutrition)
Department of Occupational Therapy
Department of Physical Therapy

Institute on Disability and Human Development: Note the preposition “on,” rather than “for.” Do not put IDHD in parentheses after first mention of the full name. The acronym will be understood, and is acceptable to use, in subsequent references.

UIC Physical Therapy Faculty Practice: Capitalize all words, and do not end with “clinic” or similar noun. It is acceptable to refer to the practice as a clinic in generic terms.

UIC Occupational Therapy Faculty Practice: Capitalize all words, and do not end with “clinic” or similar noun. It is acceptable to refer to the practice as a clinic in generic terms.

UIC Developmental Disabilities Family Clinic: Capitalize all words.

UIC Assistive Technology Unit: Capitalize all words.

UIC terms

athletics designation: UIC’s teams play in Division I-AAA of the NCAA. The conference is called the Horizon League.

C: The letter C in UIC is not to be used as the first letter of a subsequent word that begins with the letter C, e.g., UICampus. Also, always insert a space between UIC and the subsequent word.

campus regions: lowercase. When writing about sides of campus, use the words “the” and “of” campus. Avoid using east campus and west campus, which could imply distinctly separate campuses.

the east side of campus
the west side of campus

i-card: The official University of Illinois Identification Card; always lower case, even at the beginning of a sentence.

mail code: Two words. Abbreviate as MC (capital letters, no periods or slash) and leave a space between the acronym and the number. Place the abbreviation and the number in parentheses after the building and room number.

PEB 999 (MC 194)

massmail, mass mail: Lowercase. As one word, it is used as a noun or verb referring to UIC’s system for bulk distribution of e-mail messages. As two words, it is a generic verb phrase to describe the sending of a single piece to a large audience.

neighborhoods near UIC: Use these spellings for the most commonly identified neighborhoods surrounding UIC:

Little Italy
Greektown
Pilsen
the Loop
Little Village
Chinatown
Near West Side
University Village

netID: One word. Use the lowercase “netID” when used in a sentence; use “NetID” at the beginning of a sentence or when used in title case.

residence hall: This is the preferred term at UIC, rather than dorm or dormitory.

UIC Flames: Capitalize in all references to the nickname for UIC athletic teams. Use with the university acronym on first reference. It can stand alone on subsequent references.

University Library: The formal collective name for the UIC libraries

web page: Use for a single page of a website.

website: Use for the collection of pages from a single website.

University of Illinois: This is the name of Illinois’ largest public university, which comprises three  campuses at Chicago, Urbana-Champaign and Springfield. Use University of Illinois judiciously, as the general public typically interprets an unqualified mention to mean only the Urbana-Champaign campus. Do not refer to the Urbana-Champaign campus simply as Illinois. On first reference, use the full name of the university rather than the acronym. On second reference, use Urbana-Champaign, not UIUC.

University of Illinois at Chicago: Never University of Illinois-Chicago. Unless space prohibits, use the full name rather than the acronym on first reference. Do not put UIC in parentheses after first mention of the full name. The acronym will be understood, and is acceptable to use, in subsequent references.

University of Illinois Board of Trustees: Capitalize all principal words. In subsequent references, use the board (lowercase).

University of Illinois Foundation: Spell out the full name on first reference. It is acceptable to use the foundation (lowercase) in subsequent references.

University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System: It is acceptable to abbreviate this as UI Health even on first reference. However, if possible, use the full name on first reference, and always use the full name on official references. Despite this entity’s omission of “at Chicago” in the university name, UIC health sciences colleges do not follow suit:

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
University of Illinois at Chicago Jane Addams College of Social Work

Additional guidance on UIC-specific terminology is available on the UIC Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications website.