At NC State, “faculty” refers specifically to employees who hold faculty appointments and have academic, research, teaching or Extension responsibilities that align with faculty rank. Faculty typically hold titles such as professor, associate professor, assistant professor, Extension specialist or Extension assistant professor.

Use faculty as a collective noun when referring to this group as a whole (e.g., NC State faculty, Extension faculty). Do not use “faculty” as a general synonym for university employees.

Use lowercase except when part of a formal title or a proper name.

The on-campus food pantry is part of the Pack Essentials Hub and is open to all members of the NC State community.

When referring to a person in a news or feature story, use both the first name and last name on first reference. On second and subsequent references, we generally use the last name only:

• The new vice chancellor, Jane Smith, came to NC State from the University of Florida. “I’m so excited to be part of the Wolfpack,” Smith says.

Exceptions to this rule:

• When referring to children — i.e., from birth through high school graduation or age 17, whichever is later — use the first name on second and subsequent references.
• When referring to multiple people with the same last name, use both first and last name on second and subsequent references for all such people in the story.

Fiscal years generally begin in one calendar year and end in the next calendar year. For this reason, they are often stated as a year span, and all digits should be used for both the beginning and ending years:

• The budget will take effect for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.

You may also state a fiscal year with a single year. If you do, use the calendar year in which the fiscal year ends. Thus, for the 2026-2027 fiscal year you could also say “fiscal year 2027.”

For an even shorter abbreviation, you can abbreviate “fiscal year” as “FY” and delete the space before the number, which would give you “FY27.”

March 7 marks the anniversary of the founding of the university. The Founders’ Day event commemorates the 1887 passage of a bill in the state legislature that provided for the founding of a college to teach agriculture and mechanic arts.

The governing body of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system, of which NC State is a constituent institution. See entry for The University of North Carolina for a list of all 17 campuses.

This courtyard on North Campus — bounded by Kilgore Hall, the Phytotron, Fox Science Teaching Laboratory, David Clark Labs and Nelson Hall — was constructed in 2004. The word “Governors” in the courtyard’s name is plural in honor of North Carolina’s two governors named Scott: W. Kerr Scott (1949-1953) and Robert W. Scott (1969-1973).

For alums of NC State, when giving their graduation year with their name, give the last two digits of the year they graduated immediately after their last name. Precede the year with a backward-facing apostrophe (i.e., the apostrophe points toward the left, where the “missing” first two years are).

• Kevin Howell ’88 became chancellor of NC State in 2025.

You can also give their major with their graduation year. This is usually done by giving their major and year, in that order, in parentheses after their name. Although academic majors are usually lowercase, in this construction they are capitalized.

• Jane Tuffy (International Studies ’15) will give the commencement address.

In the lower third of a video, you can either give the year alone as in the first example above, or you can give the major and year on a separate line below the name, without parentheses.

• Jane Tuffy
  International Studies ’15

When an alum has multiple degrees from NC State, give them all as in the first example above, separated by commas.

• Christina Koch ’99, ’00, ’02 broke the record for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman.

When an alum has earned a graduate degree, you can use degree abbreviations to indicate which degree the alum earned. To do this, give the degree abbreviation prior to the graduation year. In the example below, alumna Christina Koch earned two bachelor’s degrees (’99 and ’00) and one master’s degree (’02) from NC State.

• Christina Koch ’99, ’00, M.S. ’02 broke the record for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman.

This museum, a unit of Arts NC State, uses the ampersand in its name.

On first reference, use “Gregg Museum of Art & Design.” On subsequent references, use “Gregg Museum” or “the Gregg.”

NC State has 10 officially designated Hallowed Places — locations and landmarks that the university defines as “irreplaceable campus buildings, landscapes and natural settings that have accrued special meaning over time.”

Note that these are Hallowed Places (not Hallowed Spaces).

The university’s Hallowed Places are listed below.

• Memorial Belltower
• Holladay Hall
• Court of North Carolina
• Mary Yarbrough Court
• The Brickyard
• Lake Raleigh Woods
• Free Expression Tunnel
• Reynolds Coliseum
• College of Veterinary Medicine Pastures
• The Oval