Introduction

Welcome to the UTSA Style Guide. The purpose of this style guide is to promote consistency and readability in the many magazines, reports, newsletters, brochures, Web pages and other publications produced by the university. We hope the guide will be a valuable resource to you as you prepare copy for your publication.

We’ve included a lot of information about names and places specific to writing about UTSA and to San Antonio. For more general information on style, punctuation, grammar and usage, we’ve drawn from three reference books: The Associated Press Stylebook; The Chicago Manual of Style, Fifteenth Edition; and Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. The Office of University Communications uses The Associated Press Stylebook as its primary reference on style issues. The Chicago Manual of Style is the second reference.

For this guide, we tried to compile all the points that come up most often in the projects we work on for the university. But it’s very likely that you might have a question we haven’t addressed here. Not sure if you’re capitalizing your supervisor’s title correctly? Do you want more clarification on using freshman versus freshmen? Feel free to call us with any grammar, style, capitalization or usage questions you have, and we’ll be happy to help you track down the answer. UTSA Style Guide PDF format.

Logo and Trademark

The university's wordmark is shown here:

The acronym UTSA is set in Futura bold type. The letters in this wordmark have been stylized to overlap to form a unique representation. This cannot be duplicated with typical desktop publishing systems. Official wordmarks can be obtained from the Publications Office.

Proofs of the wordmark are on file with the UT System Office of Trademarking and Licensing. The System office prepares color proofs with an Austin-based printer and gives them out to vendors who want to develop merchandise using the mark. The System office also makes the official application to register marks with the U.S. Patent Office.

In addition to the logo and wordmark, the university is represented by the fighting Roadrunner emblem. This stylized Roadrunner is used primarily in conjunction with Intercollegiate Athletics' events and merchandising and by Student Activities and various student organizations. University Communications has prepared a number of acceptable variations of this mascot emblem and placed them on file with the System office. Any other renditions of the fighting Roadrunner must be approved by University Communications.

The university seal, which in the past has appeared on various printed materials, merchandise and in other venues, is no longer approved for general use. The use of the seal is restricted to official documents such as diplomas, certificates, plaques and presidential awards. The seal is watermarked on all official letterhead.

Any questions about the use of the university's wordmark or mascot emblem should be directed to the Publications Office, which maintains the official on-campus file for the use of these marks.

University display ads for newspapers, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Chronicle of Philanthropy and other national publications should use the official wordmark of the university.