Public Affairs Office
Buildings, Places, and Directions
Generic building names: lowercase is preferred. Example:in commons, student union, psychology building, chemistry building, cafe, bookstore, library, gallery, reactor, sports center, health center
Named buildings: in general, buildings that are named for people are capitalized when the official name is used:
Gray Campus Center, Eliot Hall, the Arthur F. Scott Laboratory of Chemistry, Winch, Foster, the Eric V. Hauser Memorial Library (or Hauser Library), Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery (or Cooley Gallery), Vollum College Center (or Vollum), the Watzek Sports Center
Rooms in named buildings: uppercase is preferred. Example:
Vollum Lounge, Gray Center Lounge, Vollum Lecture Hall, Winch Social Room, Kaul Auditorium
Centers and laboratories: lowercase is preferred. Example:
the writing center, the career services center, the faculty multimedia lab, information resource centers (but IRCs), the instructional media center (but IMC)
Numbered rooms: use the entire name of the hall (capitalized) instead of the class schedule abbreviations:
Eliot 212, not E212; Vollum 110, not CC110; Library 10, not L10; Chemistry 126, not C126; Psychology 120. Psychology 105 is also referred to as the psychology auditorium.
Parking lot designations: lowercase is preferred. Example:
the north lot, the east lot
Regions, states, and cities: large, recognized regions of the U.S. or elsewhere, such as the Pacific Northwest or the Midwest, are capitalized. Lowercase smaller regions, such as southeast Portland or northern California.
State names are spelled out in running text.
Set off names of states after cities, or countries after cities, with a comma:
She'll celebrate her birthday in Cortona, Italy, on May 31.
The retreat took place in Twisp, Washington, on January 24.
