To Capitalise or Not To Capitalise

I've recently found this vb script which changes a lower case name into a properly cased name, incidentally:

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/PrintSearchContent.asp?INKID=337

Dr. Smith assumed responsibility as (1)Dean of the School of Medicine on November 1, 2005. In addition to the (2)deanship, he is holder of the John Thomas Dean’s Chair in Medicine, and is a (3)professor of ophthalmology and health management at the Jones Eye Institute. Dr. Smith is the 18th (4)dean to oversee the School of Medicine since it opened in 1905. An (5)ophthalmologist who earned his medical degree at Greenwich Community College, Smith served as (6)director of the Anderson Eye Institute and (7)chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Phoenix from 1993 to 2000. Dr. Smith started his career at the Scranton Eye and Ear Infirmary, where he was founder of the Q-Tip Research Laboratory, (8)Director of the Benson Laser Center, and (9)Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Pennsylvania Medical School.

i have been thrown into a world of confusion over the capitalization of job titles. i don't really get it, and i don't know if this is a US vs UK thing or whether i just never paid any attention before. i have consulted the magical mind of the internet and what i have found has been unclear and contradictory, so i was hoping for some clarity from the magical mind of ILX.

the text above seems like it has mistakes to me. i don't understand why 3, 6 and 7 shouldn't be capitalized, but it seems from what i have found out that they shouldn't be and are correct as they are. that makes me think that any or all of 1, 8 and 9 must be wrong.

are there any easy-to-swallow rules on this, preferably in capsule form? is there in fact variation between the US and UK? any and all help appreciated.

I would add spaces after the parentheses. I would capitalize 6 and 7. The other titles refer to deans and opthamologists in general, while 6 and 7 are specific titles/positions. In number 3, if the "a" was not there, I would capitalize it. It would be better, IMO, without it ("and is (3) Professor of Opthamology and Health Management"

I have been told that Americans capitalize more than the British do, particularly in title case.

i would ignore the rules used in this paragraph because it does not use rules. this seems right: http://data.grammarbook.com/blog/?p=24

that guide is great but only explicitly covers a limited range of instances. should i infer that '"director" in

served as director of the Anderson Eye Institute

should be capitalized because there is no article?

yeah, i think it should be

Not sure about a UK/US split, although I wouldn't be surprised if what Maria says is true re: US writers capitalising more.

Our house style is not to capitalise any job titles apart from high-ranking politicos, royalty etc. When asked why, I steal a line from an old boss of mine: "This is not Weimar Germany"

As to your example, I wouldn't cap up any of those for the reasons outlined above!

I think there is a general trend towards less capitalization. I blame texting and lazy pinkies. I would support a move to officially declare "i" lower case like in other languages.

thanks for the input folks, i have progressed to an understanding i can work with. also, i shall be borrowing "This is not Weimar Germany" in a variety of contexts.

Our house style is to not capitalise job titles, unless they are actually being used as part of the person's name, so a professor of opthalmology, but Professor Smith (although he's Dr Smith, but you get the idea.) The king, but King Abdel-Aziz. The president, but President Bush.

However, a more general rule would be to use capitals if it is the formal title, and lower case if it's just a general description. From this it follows that wherever you have an indefinite article, you would use lower case, as in 3 and 5. 4 is also general, so that's OK. The rest do seem a bit contradictory, but I imagine 1 and 9 are the full formal title of the post, so should get caps. 6,7 and 8 you'd have to look up, but if you didn't have time, I'd make 8 lower case to avoid the jar of having Director and director.

Phew!

Here's how I would edit the passage if it came across my desk:

Dr. Smith assumed responsibility as dean of the school of medicine on November 1, 2005. In addition to the deanship, he is holder of the John Thomas Dean’s Chair in Medicine, and is a professor of ophthalmology and health management at the Jones Eye Institute. Dr. Smith is the 18th dean to oversee the school of medicine since it opened in 1905. An ophthalmologist who earned his medical degree at Greenwich Community College, Smith served as director of the Anderson Eye Institute and chairman of the department of ophthalmology of the University of Phoenix from 1993 to 2000. Dr. Smith started his career at the Scranton Eye and Ear Infirmary, where he was founder of the Q-Tip Research Laboratory, director of the Benson Laser Center, and associate professor of ophthalmology at Pennsylvania Medical School.

Basically, what Jamie said about job titles not being capitalized unless they directly precede a person's name. (We make an exception for academic chairs.) Incidentally, I'd also lowercase the names of the departments.