<p>Everyone at my school calls them professors</p>
<p>What about people who aren't professors (ie, instructors...everybody in the department can't be Professor, or Associate Professor, or Assistant Professor)?</p>
<p>I've found that most of my professors put their title on their syllabi, and they usually just list Professor so & so, and so that's what I call them.</p>
<p>For the most part I called professors by their first names. Every once and awhile i'd say professor so and so, but it was typically first name basis.</p>
<p>Calling them "Dr." sounds like you're trying to flatter them or something. Its best to call them professors since its an academic setting.</p>
<p>Ph.D (allowing one to be called Docor) is the graduate degree awarded to a person. "Professor" is actually the job title that the person has at the university at which he is teaching. You usually have Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, Instructors, Lecturers, and Teaching Assistants. Professor is generally someone who has received full tenure (meaning he has a significant amount of job security), and associate and assistant professors, and often instructors are teachers on the tenure track with assistant profs or instructors at the lower end of that. Lecturer is usually a title given to part-time teachers. TA's are your grad students. There are also often Visiting Professors -- a prof from another college that may be at your university for some time involved in a research project and may also do some teaching. Until you know what the person prefers, you are usually safe calling any teacher "professor" although TA's are just Mr. Ms, etc. You will find professors that like to be called Professor, others Dr. and many really don't care what you call them and some even go first name basis. Note, that if your professor is a lawyer, call him professor or Mr. Ms., etc. and not Dr. even though he has a Juris Doctor degree. Most lawyers shy away from the title Dr. and some may even take offense.</p>
<p>When in doubt, I always start with Dr., but if there is an office assistant nearby, I will inquiry what to use. Some people with a Ph.D., Ed.D., etc. preferred to be called Dr. It really comes down to the relationship one has with a professor, dean or other administrator.</p>
<p>I would use Mr. to avoid confusion and disrespect.</p>
<p>drusba, "a professor" is anyone with professorial status-- from Lecturer to Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Professorial RANK is different, and not assumed with the term "professor." I will say that at some schools, if a prof goes by "professor," people might think they don't have a Ph.D. But otherwise, addressing your professors as "Professor" is the most universally acceptable thing.</p>
<p>American, using Mr. might cause confusion and seem disrespectful.</p>
<p>Definitely do not call your instructor Mr./Ms. unless they introduce themselves as such. I suppose this Dr. vs Professor thing varies from university to university. At my school, I have yet to call any of professor Professor. Actually, I try to avoid this conundrum by talking to him or her as little as possible.</p>
<p>One professor who shouldn't be called Doctor is Dr. Emeritus. lol</p>
<p>i'm just used to emailing with professors and them signing it bill, eric, joel, tracy, etc. i don't know when the last time was that i had a prof. who actually had us call him professor so and so. maybe freshman year?</p>
<p>as someone else said, I vote you go with what the syllabus says.</p>
<p>you definitely shouldn't say "Doctor" if you aren't sure if they have that title.</p>
<p>At some schools alot of professors don't have Ph.D. so it would be best to call them "professor" instead of "doctor". Some professors only have a MBA or MS.</p>
<p>At UVa the only people referred to as doctors are M.D.'s. No one else is allowed to be called Doctor. Mr. and Mrs./Miss is generally used as well as Professor, although its much more cumbersome to say than Mr.</p>
<p>"No one else is allowed to be called Doctor"</p>
<p>Who set this policy, and how is it enforced?</p>
<p>fendergirl.... that's what I do. If I'm making the first contact with a professor, I just write "Dear Professor..." and then I see what they sign at the reply. Then I just pick up the cue from there. On the other hand... when they use their intitals... I get dumbfounded and am back to square one :P</p>
<p>I call my professors "Professor" in person and in email, especially if they are in my class or had them in a class before. People that I don't know I may call them "Dr" instead.</p>
<p>All of my professors told us on the first day of class what they would prefer to be called. When in doubt, I use "professor," because that is the capacity in which I am communicating with them.</p>
<p>Also, most of our profs here go by first names, which is nice :)</p>