These guidelines are for publications published by The Association of Former Students, including Texas Aggie magazine and the E-newsletter.

The Association of Former Students: First reference, The Association of Former Students. Subsequent references, The Association. The “T” in The Association is always capitalized. We do not use AFS, nor the Formers Students Association.

advisor: we deviate from AP style on this, in deference to academic style.

the Aggie Network: Do not capitalize “the” in the Aggie Network except at the beginning of a sentence, or in the specific, trademarked usage, We are The Aggie Network.

A&M Club: Much of the work of The Association is done through local A&M Clubs. They form the foundation for many Association programs. Capitalize Club in all references to an A&M Club.

AggieNetwork.com: AggieNetwork.com should always be written with no space between Aggie and Network, and with a capital A and N. We omit the www, but only in reference to URLs at AggieNetwork.com. Use it with other URLs as appropriate.

Aggie Ring: Capitalize Aggie Ring and Ring when referring to the Aggie Ring.

Annual Fund: The funds raised by The Association on behalf of former students and friends of Texas A&M. The Association’s annual support for Texas A&M University is provided through the Annual Fund. The Annual Fund is raised through annual donations to The Association through such programs as the Century Club and the Aggie Parent Network.

archaeology: we use that spelling, with the "aeo" in the middle. The spelling archeology is becoming more common in other publications, but we'll stick with archaeology as long as that is the spelling used in the names of departments and institutes at A&M.

Association Chairs:  Those who serve as Chair of The Association’s Board of Directors should have the year of their terms specified in their titles: 2009 Association Chair Shelley Potter’78. After they  leave that office, we refer to them as Association past chair, rather than former Association chair.

Board of Directors: While most stylebooks dictate using the term board of directors in lowercase letters in most instances, The Association’s Board of Directors is referred to in internal messaging by using capital letters on first reference. On subsequent references, it is permissible to use the board.

Board of Regents: Cap in all references to the A&M System’s Board of Regents. See Board of Directors, above. On subsequent references, it is permissible to use the board.

Bryan-College Station, BCS: Note the hyphen rather than a slash in Bryan-College Station. We avoid the abbreviation BCS, but when used, no hyphen.

Century Club: Capitalize Century Club in all references.

Class: Capitalize in all references to a graduating Class of Texas A&M University.

Class years: Use Class years following the name of current and former students on first reference and in photo captions, call outs and pull quotes. Apostrophe should open away from the class year. Example: Joe Aggie ’03, not Joe Aggie '03.

Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center: First reference, Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center. Subsequent references, Alumni Center.

Corps of Cadets: Capitalize in all uses, and capitalize Corps when it stands alone if it refers specifically to A&M’s Corps of Cadets.

current students: Do not capitalize. And, usually, students will suffice.

decal: The Association window decoration is a decal, not a sticker.

department: the full, proper name of departments at A&M are capitalized: Department of Journalism.

Distinguished Alumnus Award program: Reference as Distinguished Alumnus Award program; multiple recipients are Distinguished Alumni, or Distinguished Alumnus Award recipients or past recipients of the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Do not reference Distinguished Alumni as past, ex or former Distinguished Alumni.

Endowed Century Club: Capitalize in all references.  We no longer refer to it as the Endowed Diamond Century Club. On subsequent references, ECC is acceptable.

Executive Director: The former title of Porter Garner, prior to 2009. He is now President and CEO. We follow regular style on titles in most cases; however, in this case, the title is capped in all uses, even if after his name.

Flag Room: the room in the MSC with all the flags. Some campus maps and publications call it the Flagroom, but we use Flag Room.

Find An Aggie: What used to be called the Online Directory: Find An Aggie is the online directory of former Texas A&M students.

former students: Do not capitalize except when part of our formal name: The Association of Former Students.

Internet terms: We generally follow AP style (including e-mail, Web page). Exception: website. And we don’t use the www. in front of AggieNetwork.com URLs. But use it where appropriate in non-Association website addresses.

member: Every person who has completed three credit hours at Texas A&M (College Station, Galveston or Qatar) is a member of The Association of Former Students. Membership is not dues-based. There are, however, active members who donate financially to the Annual Fund.

The Next Tradition: note the capped The. Subsequent references: TNT.

Online Directory: We call it Find An Aggie now: Find An Aggie is the online directory of former Texas A&M students.

Midnight Yell Practice, Midnight Yell: However, yell practice is not capitalized by itself.

Parents' Weekend

personal annotations: At The Association, the abbreviated forms of Jr. and Sr. used with people’s full names are preceded by commas: Clayton W. Williams, Jr. ’54. However, notations such as II, III and IV should not be separated by commas: Porter S. Garner III '79.

postgraduate

Reunions: When using the word reunion to refer to any officially sanctioned gathering of an A&M Class, capitalize Reunion. In addition, the name describing the anniversary of any such Reunion (30 Year Reunion, for example) should be written with capital letters and without a hyphen.

Texas Aggie magazine: Texas Aggie is the formal name of the official magazine of the Aggie Network. It should be capitalized and italicized when possible. When referred to as Texas Aggie magazine, the word “magazine” is neither capitalized nor italicized, as it is not a part of the formal name. If you cannot italicize, then put "Texas Aggie" in quotes.

Spirit: capitalize when used in reference to the Aggie Spirit.
 
sticker: see decal.

University: Capitalized when in reference to Texas A&M UNiversity, even if the word University stands alone.

undergraduate

website: not capped; an exception to AP style.

Year ranges: I worked at the Daily Light from 1997 to 1998. OR: I worked 1997-98 at the Daily Light. Basically, if you have a from, then you need a to.

yell leader: not capitalized.

yell practice: not capitalized. But: Midnight Yell Practice is, as is Midnight Yell.