How to use definite articles
I'm writing an English introduction to the school I'm working at. When describing the school's academic advantages, I got confused about how to use the definite article 'the' correctly. Should it go with the departments or centers always?
e.g., "Several departments, such as the Department of Counseling, the Department of Special Education, and the Department of Finance are the first of their kind in the nation. The university also has numerous distinguished research centers, such as the Community Counseling Center, the Special Education Center, and the Environmental Education Center."
The exact lists of departments and centers are longer in the introduction. Is there any way to make the expressions more concise?
Thank you very much!

Question

How to use definite articles
I'm writing an English introduction to the school I'm working at. When describing the school's academic advantages, I got confused about how to use the definite article 'the' correctly. Should it go with the departments or centers always?
e.g., "Several departments, such as the Department of Counseling, the Department of Special Education, and the Department of Finance are the first of their kind in the nation. The university also has numerous distinguished research centers, such as the Community Counseling Center, the Special Education Center, and the Environmental Education Center."
The exact lists of departments and centers are longer in the introduction.  Is there any way to make the expressions more concise?
Thank you very much!

Answer

One thing you could do is simply put "the" in front of the first item within the list and then the others won't need it. For example:

"Several departments, such as the Department of Counseling, Department of Special Education, and Department of Finance are the first of their kind in the nation."

This is perfectly acceptable. If these department names are well known by their abbreviations, then you could abbreviate them too:

"Several departments, such as the DoC, DSE, and DoF are the first of their kind in the nation."

However, it would probably be best to state their full titles.