How do you address a professor?

[realsoc]

Up to this point, I have always called professors "Dr. X", but now I'm meeting some professors as a potential graduate student. Would it be appropriate to call a professor by his or her first name? What do you do?

Seems like the grad students use first names for the faculty. If not now, when does one make the switch?

[Depths of Despair]

Up to this point, I have always called professors "Dr. X", but now I'm meeting some professors as a potential graduate student. Would it be appropriate to call a professor by his or her first name? What do you do?

Seems like the grad students use first names for the faculty. If not now, when does one make the switch?

As a potential grad student, I would play it safe and call them Professor or Dr. So So....Personally, I wouldn't want to risk offending anyone. It would be great if they invited you to call them by their first name, and that's when you could start addressing them in that way.

[deckard]

When writing I always address my emails with 'Professor' so-and-so. So far none of my profs have told me to stop being so formal, haha.

Anyway, I also think it is good to maintain some professional distance, which does not mean one can't be passionate about sociology with the prof as well.

[hip2btriangle]

say "Dr. X" unless told otherwise

[jacib]

say "Dr. X" unless told otherwise

All of the professor from the program I was accepted to sign their first names to emails. I'm still replying to Professor So-and-So. I am waiting for visiting day to see what other people in the program call them. I hope most student actually call them Professor X still, secretly.

I remember one of my history professors told me a story. He is German, though he got his PhD in Reformation/Early Modern History at Columbia. This guy Paul Oskar Kristeller, who is a big deal, taught there. When my professor finally got his PhD, P.O.K. (as his was known) bought him a bottle of champagne and raised a toast. "Constantin," he said, "You are now my peer and may now begin to address me by my first name. In English, you may call me Paul. In German, call me Paul Oskar."

Maybe it's my German heritage, but I've always thought that was so cool, and so beautifully formal. Like, I want my adviser to ceremonially say, "You are now my peer" when I get my PhD.

[maximus82]

All of the professor from the program I was accepted to sign their first names to emails. I'm still replying to Professor So-and-So. I am waiting for visiting day to see what other people in the program call them. I hope most student actually call them Professor X still, secretly.

I remember one of my history professors told me a story. He is German, though he got his PhD in Reformation/Early Modern History at Columbia. This guy Paul Oskar Kristeller, who is a big deal, taught there. When my professor finally got his PhD, P.O.K. (as his was known) bought him a bottle of champagne and raised a toast. "Constantin," he said, "You are now my peer and may now begin to address me by my first name. In English, you may call me Paul. In German, call me Paul Oskar."

Maybe it's my German heritage, but I've always thought that was so cool, and so beautifully formal. Like, I want my adviser to ceremonially say, "You are now my peer" when I get my PhD.

On that note: I am going to make everyone in my family call Dr. when i finish my phd

[readyforachange]

say "Dr. X" unless told otherwise

I agree with above. Be formal until told otherwise. At my last grad program, all but one faculty member went by Dr. X (and the only time you could call them by their first names was after you had defended your dissertation), but in my current one, everyone goes by their first name. The latter definitely took some getting used to, and I only started using first names after my DGS specifically told me to not be formal.

[tarski]

Another vote for always Dr X unless Dr X says otherwise.

I came in because something slightly similar has come up for me- what about talking about a prof? I've been emailing my advisor about a guy at one of my schools that is a potential advisor for me. My current advisor is someone who I call Dr X, and he's old, and has known my potential advisor since he was a grad student, and keeps calling him "Bob"... and so far I've just been referring to him as "Dr X". I guess I'll keep doing it? It just feels slightly silly to write an email about Dr X and then get an email back about Bob.

[herself the elf]

Another vote for always Dr X unless Dr X says otherwise.

I came in because something slightly similar has come up for me- what about talking about a prof? I've been emailing my advisor about a guy at one of my schools that is a potential advisor for me. My current advisor is someone who I call Dr X, and he's old, and has known my potential advisor since he was a grad student, and keeps calling him "Bob"... and so far I've just been referring to him as "Dr X". I guess I'll keep doing it? It just feels slightly silly to write an email about Dr X and then get an email back about Bob.

I'm currently in an email correspondence with a professor at an accepted institution, let's call her "Jane Doe." Her email signature has quickly reverted from "Jane" to "jd." I opted to start addressing my emails "Dear Jane," though I don't know if I would feel comfortable calling her Jane in person or on the phone. We have a phone call scheduled for tomorrow in which I intend to call her "Dr. Doe" unless she says otherwise. But in a long succession of emails, it felt weird, the "Dr.," so I didn't use it. When someone is signing in all lower case letters, using "Dr." feels strange and forced!

I generally agree with Jacib on this one and usually have a hard time calling professors from my other doctoral degree by their first names, no matter how often they insist otherwise. I'm usually a sucker for the formality of it all

[jacib]

I'm currently in an email correspondence with a professor at an accepted institution, let's call her "Jane Doe." Her email signature has quickly reverted from "Jane" to "jd." I opted to start addressing my emails "Dear Jane," though I don't know if I would feel comfortable calling her Jane in person or on the phone. We have a phone call scheduled for tomorrow in which I intend to call her "Dr. Doe" unless she says otherwise. But in a long succession of emails, it felt weird, the "Dr.," so I didn't use it. When someone is signing in all lower case letters, using "Dr." feels strange and forced!

I generally agree with Jacib on this one and usually have a hard time calling professors from my other doctoral degree by their first names, no matter how often they insist otherwise. I'm usually a sucker for the formality of it all

Wait, in your guys' previous academic experience, did you really use Dr. X instead of Professor X? Is that the norm where ever you are from? I have never heard that said out loud in academic setting... except for perhaps theologians. My dad is a PhD and my mom is a medical doctor, and I always used to just laugh at mail addressed to "Dr. & Dr. X" (especially because my parents don't have the same last name... it'd be even funnier when one of the was Dr. X and the other one wasn't... especially when it was Dr. X & Ms. Y). But I've never called a PhD a doctor to their face, nor heard anyone else do it. In English at least (I've heard people do it in German).

[dant.gwyrdd]

My personal system is to adress people who have taught me with Professor X and the people who haven't taught me, but are professors with Dr. X. No complaints so far.

[focused]

I call him/her "professor," unless s/he is a senior lecturer who is not tenure track but has a PhD. In the latter case I typically use "Dr." However even then, I sometimes knowingly used (as an undergrad) "professor" when in class even though s/he may not technically be a professor.

[focused]

I'm currently in an email correspondence with a professor at an accepted institution, let's call her "Jane Doe." Her email signature has quickly reverted from "Jane" to "jd." I opted to start addressing my emails "Dear Jane," though I don't know if I would feel comfortable calling her Jane in person or on the phone. We have a phone call scheduled for tomorrow in which I intend to call her "Dr. Doe" unless she says otherwise. But in a long succession of emails, it felt weird, the "Dr.," so I didn't use it. When someone is signing in all lower case letters, using "Dr." feels strange and forced!

This happened to me, as well. I used "Jane" in one e-mail after a long string of e-mails (in the first e-mail I used "Dear Professor Doe"). I think it would have seemed more awkward to write a brief final few word e-mail and still use the formal "Dear Professor Doe." That said, this is a very well-known professor and when I'm on the visit, I will DEFINITELY call her "Professor Doe" unless she tells me to call her otherwise.

[alienatedlaborer]

FWIW: A timely post on Scatterplot shows that grad students aren't the only ones with anxiety over the issue of names:

http://scatter.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/title-etiquette/

[focused]

FWIW: A timely post on Scatterplot shows that grad students aren't the only ones with anxiety over the issue of names:

http://scatter.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/title-etiquette/

Thanks for posting, but this actually makes me even more nervous about the topic. I had seemingly deluded myself into thinking that profs, for whatever reason, don't think about this (we're just the ones stressing about it). But apparently, some have very opinionated views.

[alienatedlaborer]

Thanks for posting, but this actually makes me even more nervous about the topic. I had seemingly deluded myself into thinking that profs, for whatever reason, don't think about this (we're just the ones stressing about it). But apparently, some have very opinionated views.

No need to stress. I just thought the post at scatterplot was rather timely and interesting.

As everyone else has already said, just play it safe and use "Dr." or "Professor" until told you can use a first name. You really can't go wrong with this strategy.

[captiv8ed]

I currently go to an alternative college that hinges on democratic learning. Students never call faculty by anything but their first names. So take that and add to it that fact that I am 20 years out from ever referring to anyone as Mr. or Mrs., and I must say the formal address is catching me off guard!

[focused]

FWIW: A timely post on Scatterplot shows that grad students aren't the only ones with anxiety over the issue of names:

http://scatter.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/title-etiquette/

This scatter blog has become a rather interesting thread since you posted the other day. It's turned into a sociological discussion of race, gender, and social class. Only among sociologists would a title etiquette thread turn into what it has (I mean this in a good way! ). There are some really good points if anyone wants to check it out.

[jon cocktoe]

Have you considered just asking how they prefer to be addressed? At my undergrad, everyone called everyone by their first name whether they were a professor, student, or administrator (even the president of the college!), so it was quite odd to start writing "Professor X" in all of my email correspondence. When I visited a few of the schools, I just asked the professors directly how I should address them, and they all opted for first name. So, now in all of my correspondence I just write "Dear so and so," and it feels way more natural. To each his own I suppose.

[focused]

Have you considered just asking how they prefer to be addressed? At my undergrad, everyone called everyone by their first name whether they were a professor, student, or administrator (even the president of the college!), so it was quite odd to start writing "Professor X" in all of my email correspondence. When I visited a few of the schools, I just asked the professors directly how I should address them, and they all opted for first name. So, now in all of my correspondence I just write "Dear so and so," and it feels way more natural. To each his own I suppose.

The problem with this is that if you confront a professor directly about it, s/he may be thrown off guard. In an effort to avoid giving a sentiment of superiority, s/he may say that you may call him/her by first name while actually preferring to be called "Professor/Dr. X."

[jon cocktoe]

Perhaps it might work to rephrase the question to "how do your students usually address you?"