Update 05 June 2015:
You probably arrived to this page from a search trying to find out what to call your university instructor. Here is the answer to your question:
You shoulduse“Dr.”
There’s a good chance you got here because you were searching to find out what to call your professor if she is a woman.The answer to that question is:
Call your female professors what you call your male professors. Youshould refer to your university instructor as“Doctor.” (You can alsocall her Professor, in the United States).
“Doctor” and “Professor” are gender-neutral terms. They work equally well forwomen and men. We are all professors and our gender is not relevant.
If you are worried because you aren’t positive if your professor has a Ph.D., then you can just use “Professor” in the United States, but nobody will be insulted if you just call your professor “Doctor,” and you wouldn’t be violating some secret code of conduct by calling your professor Doctor.
Let me make this very clear: You should bereferring to your female professorsthe same way you refer to your male professors. To do otherwise is insulting and sexist.
(You should be aware that Mrs. indicates marital status and is unacceptable unless you have been specifically instructed to use it by your instructor. Using Ms. is not a good idea because it’s overlooking the fact that your professor might have a Ph.D.)
When in doubt, use Doctor.It’s that simple.
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Here’s the original post:
Should you always go by Dr. when you’re dealing with undergraduates on campus?
The answer to that one is easy: you follow prevailing departmental and university culture. If you don’t do this, then you’ll just look weird, in a way that distracts from things that matter.
I’ll always remember that one guy from college who always had students call him by his first name. He also hung out at the stoner fraternity parties, too. That was creepy. I don’t want to be that creepy guy who forces overfamiliarity. But if that kind of thing is normal on your campus, or if you’re in the university founded by Thomas Jefferson and use Mr. or Ms. in an egalitarian spirit, then by all means follow along.
If your campus culture does involve the use of your title, then do you say anything when students when they don’t say Dr. or Professor? I do.
Here’s why I interrupt the conversation with students to talk about titles. I find it unprofessional when some students refer to some of my colleagues as “Mrs.” or “Ms.” instead of Professor or Dr. I also think it often indicates structural sexism that needs to be addressed, especially if students are making assumptions about marital status. (The truth is that students who choose to use “Mrs.” probably are not aware that this requires an assumption about marital status, which is a whole lesson in itself.) It does seem to me that men are more likely to be called Dr. than women.
If I correct students about not using the right title for women, then I think I should do it for men. I get “Mr.” all of the time from students. I typically suggest that they call me “Dr.” Most students probably think I’m overbearing about it, but the optimistic side of me thinks that the majority of them appreciate the advice.
I also tell the former military students that “Sir” makes me uncomfortable, which it does. I don’t get bothered when they continue to use it, though, because it’s so engrained that I realize it’s hard for them to change.
I have all of my research students, who have worked with me closely, call me by my first name. There isn’t much any other option, considering we work so closely together in the field, and at the field station, that’s what everyone else calls me. The students would be at a strategic disadvantage if they called me Dr. McGlynn while all of the other students on site had a more casual relationship with their mentors. (Also, I want to be as approachable as possible, because open communication is so important while doing international field research. I stay professional but also get to know my students as individuals.)
Of course, in the context of working with my research students on campus with other students, such as if they were to take a class with me, they call me what all the other students call me.
Do you follow campus convention? Do you like your campus convention? Do you treat your research students differently than other students, with respect to what you are called?
Note: I was thinking about this after reading a post by the Thesis Whisperer about the choice to use Dr. in one’s non-academic life. That’s a different issue, but it made me think of this.
