Business Card Authorization Guidelines for Harvard Affiliates

Policies

Issued by the Harvard Trademark Program: September 2015

These guidelines are based on the University’s policy on The Use of Harvard Names and Insignias and apply to all affiliates of Harvard and its schools and units, including faculty, staff, students, and other classes of affiliates such as fellows, lecturers, visiting scholars, etc.

1. Business cards are reserved for affiliates of Harvard who have current, active appointments or comparable relationships with the University through a Harvard school or unit.

Given that the purpose of a Harvard business card is to officially represent an affiliate’s current role within the University, business card authorizations should only be granted to affiliates who have current, active appointments, or comparable relationships, (such as faculty, staff, students, etc.) with the University through a Harvard school or unit. As a result, members of the Harvard community, who no longer hold current, active appointments, or comparable relationships, with the University, such as alumni and retirees, are not eligible for Harvard branded business cards.

2. Business card authorizations must be granted by the respective Harvard school or unit:

Given that a business card officially represents an affiliate’s association with a specific Harvard school or unit, authorization for the production of business cards must be obtained from an official of the school or unit who has the authority to grant such approvals on behalf of the school or unit and any such authorization must be provided in writing, either on letterhead or by way of the official’s Harvard email address. The affiliate should, therefore, make inquiries regarding which administrative or academic office handles matters of this nature on behalf of the school or unit (meaning the administrative or academic office that has been given that responsibility by the school or unit), for example: the communications office, an administrative or academic department, student activities office, etc.

3. Representations on business cards must be in accord with Harvard’s use-of-name policies, specifically those policies’ primary standard of accurate representation:

Like other print and electronic materials that officially represent a Harvard school or unit, and in doing so bear trademarks of the University, business cards must comply with the University’s use-of-name policies and those policies’ standard of accurate representation, which prescribes that “The University and its members have a responsibility to ensure that any implied association with the University [through the use of the Harvard name or insignia] is accurate.” With that standard in mind, in addition to an affiliate’s name, all business cards must contain the following information in order to ensure that an affiliate’s relationship with the University is represented accurately:

  • The affiliate’s official appointment title;
     
  • The name of the school or unit with which the affiliate is associated (and the school or unit’s insignia or logo if the school or unit allows its insignia or logo to appear on business cards);
     
  • And if applicable, the duration of any term appointment.

4. Representations must also be in accord with applicable University, or school or unit, Identity Guidelines:

The Harvard Public Affairs and Communications (HPAC) office has established Identity Guidelines for units within Harvard’s Central Administration; and a number of schools and other units of the University have instituted Identity Guidelines of their own that govern the manner in which the names and insignia of those schools and units may be represented graphically in official print and electronic materials, including business cards. Inquiries regarding the University’s Identity Guidelines should be fielded with HPAC, itself, and inquiries concerning a school or other unit’s Identity Guidelines should be fielded with the Communications Office of the school or unit.

5. Provision of insignia or logos:

Schools and units are responsible for providing business card vendors with the insignia or logos that are allowed by the schools and units for use by affiliates on business cards, and the insignia or logos must be in accord with any identity and graphic standards a school or unit has that govern the use of its insignia or logo.

6. Preferred business card vendors:

Schools and units of the University at times utilize the services of preferred vendors for the production of business cards; as a result, affiliates should ensure that they use the preferred vendor designated by their school or unit for the production of business cards, if their school or unit has selected a vendor for the provision of that service.

7. Additional guidelines for student business card requests:

  • To qualify for a business card, a student must currently be enrolled in a degree program, and the fact that the student is a degree candidate must be represented clearly on the card, directly beneath the student’s name:

John Harvard

Candidate for the A.B. degree

  • The card may also include the student’s anticipated year of graduation, which should be listed after the student’s candidacy information:

John Harvard

Candidate for the A.B. degree, 2016

  • Students not yet enrolled or accepted into a degree program, those that are on a leave of absence, visiting students, and special status students are not eligible to have business cards produced bearing the University’s insignia (trademarks).
     
  • Additional information, such as academic or professional designations (Ph.D., M.D., M.A., M.S., etc.) may only be included with written authorization from the appropriate administrator in the student’s school who will be responsible for ensuring such information is accurate.
     
  • In accordance with Guideline 2: The name of the school with which the student is associated should appear on the card, as well as the shield that represents the school. Also, and only at the discretion of the school, the Harvard or Harvard University name and the University’s unadorned VE-RI-TAS shield may appear in conjunction with the name and shield of the school, with the understanding that any such use of the Harvard or Harvard University name and the unadorned VE-RI-TAS shield must be in accord with the University’s Identity Guidelines, which are maintained by the Harvard Public Affairs and Communications Office.
     
  • Requests for business cards with text on both sides of the card and or in a language other than English must have the written approval of the appropriate administrator in the student’s school.
     
  • Requests for business cards from students enrolled in degree programs offered jointly by Harvard and peer academic institutions must be approved in writing by the appropriate administrator in the school sponsoring the Harvard component of the program.

8. Additional guidelines for other classes of affiliates such as fellows, lecturers, visiting scholars, etc.:

  • All requests from fellows, lecturers, visiting scholars, etc. must be accompanied with a letter (on department letterhead and signed by an authorized administrator) or email from the affiliate’s school or unit Harvard email account stating that the affiliate is authorized to have business cards; and, in addition to any other requirements from the school or unit, the business card must list the individual’s appointment title and the duration of the appointment. For example:

John Harvard

Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School, 2015 - 2016

  • Additional information, such as academic or professional designations (Ph.D., M.D., M.A., M.S., etc.) may only be included with written authorization from the appropriate administrator in the affiliate’s school.
     
  • In accordance with Guideline 2: The name of the school or unit with which the affiliate is associated should appear on the card, as well as the insignia that represents the school or unit. Also, and only at the discretion of the school or unit, the Harvard or Harvard University name and the University’s unadorned VE-RI-TAS shield may appear in conjunction with the name and insignia of the school or unit, with the understanding that any such use of the Harvard or Harvard University name and the unadorned VE-RI-TAS shield must be in accord with the University’s Identity Guidelines, which are maintained by the Harvard Public Affairs and Communications Office.
     
  • Requests for business cards with text on both sides of the card and or in a language other than English must have the written approval of the appropriate administrator in the affiliate’s school or unit. Such approvals may only be for Harvard related information and not for non-Harvard activities.

Inquiries regarding these guidelines may be submitted by email to trademark_program@harvard.edu. (Please note that the Harvard Trademark Program does not provide authorizations for business cards – rather, and as explained in Guideline 2, authorization for the production of business cards must be obtained from an official of the school or unit with which an affiliate is associated.)

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