Twice in the last week I have had students call me "Miss F-" [Again, not putting my full name lest my students google me.] At first I was a little weirded by using my brand new title of Dr. I have since been going by Prof and have been signing my emails that way, and thus most of my students call me Prof. This feels normal now. And now two separate students have called me Miss! Not Ms., not Mrs., but Miss. The first one was an international student, so I tried to give him the cultural benefit of the doubt. The second one, however, was an absolutely standard college guy. Yes, I know that I am young, but seriously, I am a professor! This makes me wonder if there are a lot of non-PhDs teaching here - I think the answer is no. And since I have been reading Female Science Professor lately it makes me wonder if this is just because I'm female, and they would assume that their male professors are Dr while female professors are Miss. Or maybe I just have dumb, clueless students. Either way, I think it's interesting how quickly I grew into my new title and get bothered by this now!
The question now is whether I should correct students when they call me Miss to my face. I don't know that it's important enough to make them feel stupid and embarrassed in front of their professor.
And in the future, should I be explicit on the first day of class: "My name is A- F-, Dr. or Prof. F-"? I have never noticed a professor ever doing this. I do already tell them a little about me and that I have a PhD.
Dr. F.,
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think it's ignorance on part of the student and sometimes I think it's a M/F thing. In the first case, maybe they don't know that PhD = Dr. Maybe they only think MD = Dr. But if that's true, then do they call their male teachers Prof and their female teachers Ms?
Your email also reminded me of something that happened at the last IAU meeting. At the opening ceremony, there were many local dignitaries there to open the ceremony, i.e. mayor, governor, Sci and Tech secretary, president's representative. I'm sure you know how they all tend to start a speech... Mr. Mayor, Mr. Governor, Mr. So and So, Honored Guests, and Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for inviting me to speak. Blah blah blah. Well, aside from being completely bored while they were speaking, I was also completely irritated, because of their manner of addressing the IAU President - A PhD-holding astronomer who just happens to be a women. Her title throughout the proceedings was, "Mrs. Catherine." And FYI, Catherine is not her last name. I just couldn't believe that these elected political figures, where image is important, couldn't figure out the appropriate, non-offensive title for the president of the society that said "Pluto is not a planet." Oh well... enough ranting
As to your question, I think you should either choose Prof or Dr. Maybe write it on the board or in the syllabus. Also, if you don't correct them (i.e. honk), they'll never learn.
BTW: I'll be in your neck of the woods for the WIA meeting. Email me if you'll be around.
Keep up the blogging. I like hearing about your adventures as a new Dr. and Prof.! :)
My undergrad boss used to sign all his emails with his first name to his classes, but he expected his students to call him Dr. B... but when someone did call him by his first name, he sort of freaked the hell out, told the student that it's Dr or Prof and then started signing his emails that way. He was kind of way into the whole respect thing, deserved or not.
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