In the context of a college environment, you might notice that at least one professor in every department is listed as its chair. But what exactly does that mean?

In essence, the chair of the department at a college is the person in charge of the department as a whole. At some institutions, this is a semi-permanent position; at others, it randomly rotates every few years between professors.

There is added responsibilities for department chairs as well as added powers.

Most students will not need to interact specifically with their department chair during their time in school. There are, of course, some exceptions to this rule: If, for example, you are appealing your grade, your request might first go through your original professor and then the department chair (or even the dean of faculty). The chair of your department might also make a speech at an end-of-the-year celebration or other important event. For the most part, however, department chairs deal mostly with internal issues that don't directly involve students.