Addressing professors by their first names

[Pol]

I address professors and my advisor using the formal form (vous in French, it's like usted in Spanish). I stop only if they tell me to.

[DerpTastic]

(I'm in undergrad)

 

I only had one professor ask to call him by his first name, and it was because he had a last name that was a variation of Hussein. He didn't like the way it sounded, as he said many relate it to Saddam Hussein, and asked us to call him by his first name. I still (along with many) referred to him as Dr. (first name).

 

I would feel a little weird calling a professor by their first name.

[ciistai]

I can't imagine addressing them by their first name. Sounds so rude, guess it is a cultural difference. 

 

Definitely a cultural difference - when I arrived in the UK my supervisor was quite adamant that I not refer to her as Dr. [Last Name] - generally even the undergrads are on a first name basis with their instructors here! Still bothers me, as a North American!

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Addressing professors by their nickname? 

[TakeruK]

Addressing professors by their nickname? 

 

We do this for some professors. Obviously, only if they are okay with it!

[CageFree]

Addressing professors by their nickname? 

 

In my program, this is common. My adviser signs his emails with his nickname so....

[knightrunner]

As an undergraduate I usually call my professors by there first name.  Now if other people are around then I would refer to them as Dr.

[seeingeyeduck]

We usually call professors by their first name after the first interaction, or depending on what they prefer. Of course, in correspondence with someone that I don't already have a line of communication open with, I still address them as Prof or Dr. But to carry that on into further correspondence is just awkward. I haven't met any profs who INSIST on the titles. Everyone seems pretty laid back here.

[reinhard]

I honestly feel uncomfortable calling them by their first name.

[Between Fields]

In my program, there are two professors who strongly prefer to be addressed by their first names, several that have it as an option (unless undergraduates are around), and a few older folks who prefer to be Dr. X to everyone. There are a few professors in another department that I'm close with, but with whom I've just never been able to use their first names; I had them for too many classes. I call my supervisor, advisor, and department chair by their first names. I have to use Dr. for several whose opinions don't really matter to me at all, so it's a mixed bag.

 

When in doubt, it's better to be corrected for being too formal than being not formal enough, IMO.

[ZiggyPhil]

I'm an extremely informal person, but I address all faculty as Prof.______ until explicitly told to do otherwise, which has only happened with one professor.  Even the professor I currently TA for I call by last name, despite the fact that he signs emails with his first name.  I'd prefer to use first names with everyone, but until I hear "Feel free to call me John" or some such, the risk of offending (even if that risk is quite small) outweighs the benefits of informality. 

 

I just think how I would react.  Since I really want to be addressed by my first name, if someone addressed me as "Mr. Phil" the first thing out of my mouth would be "please, call me Ziggy" (that's not my real name of course). 

Edited February 24, 2014 by ZiggyPhil

[Maziana]

When visiting a grad school, all the students referred to the professors by their first names, but occasionally would be like "A- oh, I mean Dr. so and so..." One said to me, after a few months, I'd be able to call them their first names. If I went there, I would certainly take them up on that.

 

As an undergrad, I eventually started to call my thesis mentor by their first name... and one prof whose lab I worked in, I called by the first name soonish, since all the grad students did. I used to avoid saying it to his face though, because I was embarrassed... 

 

In grad school, I'll either ask or copy what other grad students do! I think I am an adult now, and should be able to refer to even these amazing, amazing professors by their first names IF and only if they are comfortable with it (maybe not in front of undergrads, though). 

[Vene]

Not in grad school yet, but I can't imagine constantly calling my advisor/PI Dr X, I only intermittently did it in undergrad. Part of it is because my supervisor when I was working in industry had a PhD, but I never called him doctor. If fact, I worked with several men and women with doctorates and nobody referred to others as Dr. X.

[likemythesis]

I have one prof right now that is "Dr.P" to me, but her graduate students call her by her first name. I definitely still get the wiggles from it, so I'd probably use their formal title. However, most times what actually happens is I just never call them by name when we're in person and avoid the issue entirely.

[bsharpe269]

I call all of my professors Dr .... I am a masters student but the phd students do the same. I even refer to by PI who I have been working with for 6 months Dr ... I would feel awkward addressing them with their first names!