I’ve been emailing back and forth with the head of the department that I’m studying in during the fall (I’m a high school senior about to graduate). I’ve mistakenly addressed her as Ms. ____ the whole time, and she just sent me this in her recent email:
“p.s. for future reference, its much more respectful to address a female professor as Dr. or Prof., rather than Ms.”
It was an honest mistake, I’m not used to corresponding with college professors, and I’m always used to calling female adults Ms. How should I apologize for my mistake?
Apologize when you meet her in person. The message doesn’t sound bitter so I’d assume she too assumes it to be an honest mistake that she wants to fix early.
What should I say? I’m meeting her at my orientation in June.
Reply to the email “Thank you for bringing that to my attention,” and move on. It’s not a big deal.
I’m assuming that she has both a doctorate and a tenured or tenure-track position; otherwise her comment would not be correct.
No worries - just use Prof or Dr in the future. Dear Professor is a general salutation that few would complain about. My grad school professors didn’t like to be called Dr., but that is perhaps department specific. You don’t even need to bring it up when you see her.
I would just email back and say something like
“dear dr. …,
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. This is my first time emailing a college professor and I did not realize. I’m sorry / I apologize. I will keep this in mind for future reference.
Thank you again,
[your name]”
Just reply to her email thanking her for informing you. No need to bring it up in person or even apologize. Professors are used to correcting their students on such matters, it’s no big deal.
I wrote “thank you for bringing this to my attention, I’ll keep this in mind” and she responded well.