What is a Cathedra (Cátedra)?

The Latin word cathedra (which originates from the Greek word for “seat”) refers to a particular discipline that an outstanding professor teaches within an educational institution.  This designation reflects the superior accomplishments of such a professional in imparting and advancing knowledge in his or her field. In Roman Catholic settings, a cathedra is the chair occupied by the bishop in his cathedral during the liturgical services. Likewise, the stalls, the pulpit, the confessionals, and the array where the prelate or the bishop resides are also known as cathedra.

A cathedra is also an academic body intended to stimulate debate around the figure of someone who has excelled in any field of knowledge and whose merits and accomplishments deserve to be remembered not only through the preservation of his or her intellectual work, but also by offering opportunities to contextualize his or her ideas according to current reality, challenges, and epistemological advances.