The answer to the question “is chair capitalized” depends on how it is used and on whether or not it is part of a proper name. Capitalization is an important part of writing because it helps readers distinguish between words that are meant to be distinguished from each other. It also serves to convey meaning and establish order. For example, the words association, building, center, club, department, hall, office, senate, street and university should all be capitalized when used as official titles, but they should not be capitalized when they are simply part of a person’s name or when used to describe a place or event.
The word chair is capitalized when it is used in front of a person’s title, such as chairman, president or chairwoman. It is also capitalized when it is used to refer to a specific type of chair, such as an executive committee chair or a legislative conference chair. The word chair can be lowercase when it is used after a person’s name, such as the board of trustees’ chair or the UT College of Business’s chair. It is also lowercase when it is used in the title of a committee, such as the finance and administration committee or the academic affairs committee.
In general, the only words that should be capitalized are proper names, months and days of the week (fall semester, spring break, summer session), seasons of the year (winter, spring, summer and fall) and academic terms and years (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior). Articles (a, an, the) and prepositions (of, in, on, for) should be lowercase.
The words chair, professor and presiding officer should be capitalized in all contexts. The names of honorary members should be capitalized when they are used in conjunction with the title of a member or when the membership is formally acknowledged, but not when they are simply part of a person’s formal name. Other official titles should be capitalized when their full names are used and lowercase when they are not. For example, the provost’s chair is always capitalized but the burt wolbach professorship is lowercase. The same rule applies to the University’s departmental titles and conferred degrees. For example, the Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry is always capitalized but the Master of Arts Degree in Counseling Psychology is lowercase. For a complete list of rules and exceptions, please refer to the University’s Style Manual.