how do you address non-academic staff?

[socialpsych]

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.

[ohheygradschool]

I always try to err on the side of formality, personally. I don't think it's that huge of a deal though.

[mlle]

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.

[synthla]

When they shift to using my first name in their emails, I have made the same transition. I still use "Dear" though, which is sort of amusing.

[belowthree]

I address everyone as:

Hi,

I have yet to have anyone object.

[Comfect]

I usually begin with Mr/Mrs and then go by their response (a John Smith remains Mr Smith, a John becomes John).

[seattleph09]

It never occurred to me to address them by anything but their first names. Perhaps I'd do differently if a staff member was listed as Ms.______ on the website, or something.

[suwanee]

In general, as soon as they start signing their names as just first name, you can start addressing them as such. No one will ever complain if you are too formal. To be safe, though, you should use Ms. and not Mrs.

[Comfect]

As the only person who put "Mrs" there, I'll just fess up to the typo

[rising_star]

I always use "Ms./Mr." until I know the person. It never hurts to be overly polite.

[psycholinguist]

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.

[belowthree]

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.

[psycholinguist]

That's true. It just seems a bit weird when a faculty-member tells me, 'ask Anne about that', or 'Oh, Will deals with this sort of thing' to go up to the person in question and not call him or her that.