Use an existing copy of Class Notes as your guide.
Academic degrees: Follow the list provided in the USC Style Guide.
School abbreviations: The school should be written without periods: LAS, ARC, SCA, DEN, ENG, SFA and follows the appropriate graduation year and is contained in parenthesis. If the person received multiple degrees from the same school, then the school abbreviation follows the last degree and graduation year listed.
Examples:
- Marguerite Sadler ’83 (LAS), JD ’86 (LAW) was recently promoted to senior vice president and corporate counsel at Club Holdings LLC.
- Jane Doe MA ’12, PhD ’12 (LAS) is currently serving as executive director of Alpha Academy.
List of abbreviations
ACC – USC Leventhal School of Accounting
ARC – USC School of Architecture
ART – USC Roski School of Art and Design
BPT – Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy
BUS – USC Marshall School of Business
DEN – Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC
DNC – USC Kaufman School of Dance
DRA – USC School of Dramatic Arts
EDU – USC Rossier School of Education
ENG – USC Viterbi School of Engineering
GRD – The Graduate School
GRN – USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
IVA – USC Iovine and Young Academy
LAS – USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
LAW – USC Gould School of Law
LIB – USC Libraries
MED – Keck School of Medicine of USC
MUS – USC Thornton School of Music
OST – USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
PHM – USC Mann School of Pharmacy
SCA – USC School of Cinematic Arts
SCJ – USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
SPP – USC Price School of Public Policy
SSW – USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Under the appropriate graduation decade, enter the person’s name in bold, type of degree(s) only if it’s anything other than a bachelor’s, degree year(s), school affiliation in parenthesis, followed by the announcement.
- Do not put periods in between the letters if the degree comes directly after a person’s name. For ex. “Doris Smith MA, PhD ’05 (LAS) was promoted to president of XYZ Co.”
- Do not put periods in between the letters if the degree is listed alone, not next to a name (see Academic Degrees). For ex. “Doris Smith graduated with her MA in 2000 then decided to pursue a DDS.
- If a person has multiple degrees, separate by commas and type the degree followed by the year.
Examples:
1950s
Mark Brauer ’50 (BUS), MA ’53 (LAS) was elected president of Ackmecie Consultants, a business-consulting firm based in Corpus Christi, Texas. (This indicates he received his bachelor’s in 1950 and master’s in 1953.)
1970s
Clyde Cronkhite MPA ’73, DPA ’91 (SPP) published the book Criminal Justice Administration: Strategies for the 21st Century.
(This indicates he received his MPA in 1973 and his DPA in 1991.)
-Include the school the person graduated from in parenthesis after the appropriate graduation year listed (see School Abbreviation).
-If a woman gives her maiden name, put it in parentheses between the first and last name, or middle initial/name (if provided) and last name.
Example:
Jennifer Ann (Smith) Brown
(Her maiden name is Smith, but now she goes by Jennifer Brown.)
-Nicknames (if given) go in quotes between the first and last name, or first name and middle initial/name (if provided).
Examples: William “Skip” Johnson, Josephine M. “Jo” McGee
-Try to make each entry as concise but descriptive as possible. Give a brief description of the company/business the person works for if it’s not very well known. If a person is given an award, mention the organization that gave the award. Provide brief descriptions (genre, five-word summary, etc.) of any books people write.
-Whenever possible, include some kind of reference to where the person lives. Examples:
-Norman C. Bitter DDS of Fresno, Calif., published ….
-Joseph Rivera EdD was re-elected as a governing board member of the El Rancho Unified School District in Pico Rivera, Calif.
-Jeff Lenning had an article on application servers published by the Journal of Accountancy. He lives in Irvine, Calif.
-Bold the name of all alumni that are mentioned in each class note and include their class year.
Marriages
-Same format/method for listing names and degrees as Class Notes. Only put alumni names in bold; if their spouses did not go to USC, do not bold their names.
– General format:
– Alumni Name [year/degree] [(school)] and Alumni Name [year/degree] [(school)] (This is if both people in the announcement are alumni)
– Include the school the person graduated from in parenthesis after the appropriate graduation year listed (see School Abbreviation).
– List chronologically – Whoever graduated first gets listed first. If both people in the announcement graduated in the same year, arrange their names alphabetically
– Alumni Name [year/degree] [(school)] and Spouse Name (This is if only one person is an alum)
– Always list the alum’s name first
– Only put a period at the very end of the marriage announcement section—not after each individual announcement.
Class Notes Style Manual for USC Trojan Family Magazine (Revised May 2013)
Births and Adoptions
– Same format/method for listing names and degrees as Class Notes. Only put alumni names in bold; if their spouses did not go to USC, do not bold their names.
– General format:
– Arrange all birth announcements chronologically by graduation year. If both people in the announcement graduated in the same year, put the woman’s name first. Include the school the person graduated from in parenthesis after the appropriate graduation year listed (see School Abbreviation).
– If the baby joins siblings, say:
“[He/She] joins [brother(s)/sister(s)/siblings (if the baby joins a mix of brothers and sisters)] [name of sibling], [age, if provided]”
Examples:
– Cristin Powitzky Murphy ’94 (ENG) and Derek Murphy, a daughter, Tessa Grace. She joins brothers Ryan, 5, and Troy, 2
– Alli (Tapio) Gardea ’85 (LAS), MBA ’87 (BUS) and Rene Gardea ’90 (SFA), a son, Benjamin Jude. He joins sister, Anita, and brothers Emilio, Matthew and Tadeo
– Sometimes birth announcement submissions include names of family members who also graduated from USC. Put alumni names in bold and do the same format for listing their degrees as you do for Class Notes. Arrange in order according to generational status: great-grandparents, great-aunts/uncles, grandparents, aunts/uncles, nieces/nephews, cousins
“[He/She] is the [relation] of [Alumni Name] [year/degree]”
Example:
Matthew Tonkovich ’92 (SSW) and Babe (Foster) Tonkovich ’04 (LAS), a daughter, Petra Jeanette. She joins brothers Ryder Dean and August James. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Ruth (Dallman) Launer ’16 (LAS), the great- granddaughter of Earl Harris ’39 (LAS) and Eunice (Launer) Harris ’39 (LAS), the great-grandniece of Ruthmarie (Launer) Gruber ’41 (MUS), the granddaughter of
Janet (Harris) Tonkovich ’65 (SED), the grandniece of Kathleen (Harris) Windsor ’66 (SED), the niece of Diane (Tonkovich) Miller ’92 (MUS), Gregory Tonkovich
’94, MS ’01 (LAS) and Jaclyn (Talarico) Tonkovich MA ’01 (LAS), and the cousin of
Divita Elliott ’93 (SCJ)
– Only put a period at the very end of the birth announcement section—not after each individual announcement. Do, however, put a period at the end of each sentence within the individual announcement; but don’t put a period at the end of the last sentence in the individual announcement.
– Treat adoptions in the same way as you treat births. Don’t specify anywhere in the announcement that it’s an adoption.
In Memoriam
– Same format/method for listing names and degrees as Class Notes
-Include the school the person graduated from in parenthesis after the appropriate graduation year listed (see School Abbreviation).
– Arrange chronologically by graduation year. If two people graduated in the same year, arrange alphabetically
– Non-alumni go at the end of the obit section under subhead “Faculty, Staff & Friends,” and are listed in alphabetical order. Non-alumni are classified into three groups: those who attended USC, but did not graduate nor receive a degree; those who donated a monetary gift to the university; and those who served as a member of the Board of Trustees. Oftentimes, an alum also was a USC faculty/staff/friend. In those cases, place obituary under “Faculty, Staff & Friends” and include the graduation year(s), degree(s) and school affiliation.
(Print Version) Each obit should include:
– Alumni Name
[year/degree], [City/Town, State]; [date of death] at the age of [age]
Examples: -Louis A. Hebert
’35 (LAS), Northbrook, Ill.; July 20 at the age of 96
-Robert Pike Whitten
’35 (ARC), Glendale, Calif.; Nov. 12 at the age of 98
– Only put a period at the very end of the “In Memoriam” section – not after each individual announcement.
(web version) Each obit should include the above – Alumni Name [year/degree], of [City/Town, State]; [date of death], of [cause of death], at the age of [age].
– In the second sentence of the obit (after the first sentence with all the necessary biographical info), establish his/her connection to USC
– Generally, we try to stick to mentioning professional accomplishments, life achievements, professional affiliations and family info. We try to omit things like hobbies and sentimental remarks from family members (“He was a loving father” etc.)
– General Notes: It is extremely important that you type all names exactly as they were given to us – even if it breaks our normal style. This goes for the deceased and all names of the family members. This can be a very touchy subject among the family. Also, check, double-check and triple-check all information you’re including in the obits. It can be extremely upsetting to the family if any piece of information is wrong – especially things like misspellings of family names, omissions of certain relatives etc.