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how do you address non-academic staff?


socialpsych

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Maybe I'm a little over-concerned about getting titles right, but I just don't want to offend people. :oops: Is it okay to address non-academic staff (e.g. department secretaries) by their first names? "Ms." or "Mr." sounds overly formal to me, but first name is a little uncomfortable!

I've been writing emails to a bunch of them to coordinate campus visit details, and I never know what is proper. It's just been bugging me.

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I address them by Ms./Mr. in my e-mails. It does kind of feel weird but if you don't know them or if you haven't been admitted yet, it seems to make sense to stick to stuffy formalities. I suppose if you literally visit the school and meet them in person and they introduce themselves by their first name, and then everyone else calls them by their first name, then I don't see where there's anything wrong with switching to their first name.

But I agree that it's not a big deal and wouldn't be too concerned about it. I would think the main thing is that your e-mails are polite, which I'm sure they are.

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If the note is very formal, I'll use Mr or Ms. However, if it's more genial and personal and/or if I've noticed another faculty-member call the staff-member by his or her first name, I'll go with that.

Hmmm... personally I wouldn't ever infer the correct mechanism for addressing someone based on what a faculty member would call them. They probably have a very very different relationship with the staff member than a recently admitted grad student would. I would be surprised if a faculty member *wouldn't* be on the first name basis with staff even at a school where staff mostly would expect formality with people they hadn't worked with for years.

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