AP Style guidelines state that formal academic titles such as dean, chancellor, chairman, etc., should be capitalized when they precede a name. They should appear lowercase elsewhere.
For example,
- I have a meeting with Dean of Student Activities Michael Jones on Monday.
- Chancellor Mary Sue Coleman gave the invocation today.
-but-
- Steve Jones is a professor at the local university.
- Mary Weathers serves as a dean at the local university.
When you have modifiers such as “department” in “department Chairman Steve Jones” they should be lowercase.
See also AP Style titles, AP Style Professor.