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If your professor is a Doctor.. What do you call them?

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Originally posted by: Hayabusarider
Originally posted by: MindStorm
Hmm...I'm reading conflicting definitions of professors here. Some are implying professors may not have PhDs, and others are saying not only do they have to have PhDs, they have to be teaching for a few years - who's correct?
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A Ph.D is Doctor.

A Professor teaches at a college or university. From lowest to highest is Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor. If someone who holds a Masters degree achieves one of these ranks, they are indeed Professor. In science, it happens, but it is rare for a non-Ph.D to rise above instructor. Sometimes Assistant. He or she would be rightly called Professor.
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There is also Adjunct Professor...

Also.. the JD and DBA is a less research intensive degree that does not require a board, orals, and the massive research and accepted topic for the dissertation. There are other non Ph.D. 'Doctor' degrees that don't come to mind that are as the JD. The address of 'Doctor' this or that in the class enviornment is up to the preference of the Professor... Professor when in doubt is the best address.

 
I goto a school where pretty much every Professor has their PhD. Most of them downplay it right way, in fact i dont remember one that didnt. But You will see what they whant you to call them.

Professor XXX really is the best bet.
 
It depends on the professor. In my school, the instructors tell us how they like to be addressed on the first day, whether it be Dr. So & So, Professor So & So, Mr./Mrs. So & So, or just by their first name.
 
I go by professor, it's a safe bet. I do call some of the profs I know personally by their first name but only if it's outside an academic setting.
 
Originally posted by: kami333
I go by professor, it's a safe bet. I do call some of the profs I know personally by their first name but only if it's outside an academic setting.
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My physics professor (w/PhD) has everyone call us by his first name 'Indra'. I guess it was part because his last name was hard to say (impossible) and he is just a really cool guy.
 
Originally posted by: glen
Originally posted by: Soybomb
Originally posted by: glen
I think Professor, if they are indeed tenured is prefered.
I can't imagine not using the proper title to address a teacher. The idea of calling a Doctor or Professor, ?Mr.? just because you think you are too cool, really shows lack of maturity.
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I don't ask them to call me Mr. Bomb which is also a sign of respect, so if they're going to drop the formalities and call me by my first name, I expect to be allowed to drop some of the formalities too. To get as upset as I've seen some instructors do when someone doesn't address them as Doctor also comes off as childish and shows a lack of maturity to me. They didn't call me by my special title....wahhhhh.
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You sound like you are about 10 years old. Therefore, the correct way to address a male who is not yet a man, is Master.
So, to show you respect, which they are not obliged to do since you are the student, is to call you, Master Bomb.
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In my experience, the people who demanded to be called Dr. So-and-so are usually the least deserving of being referred to respectfully - the lowest quality teachers, while the ones who don't care if you call them Mr, Dr, Prof, or just plain so-and-so are often the ones most deserving of respect and end up being called Prof. or Dr.

BTW - as the PAYING CUSTOMER, the student should be entitled to a hell of a lot of respect. That's one of the many ways our university system is grossly broken.
 
If they specifically demand it, you call them Dr. So-and-so. If they don't care, call them professor so-and-so if you're nervous about it, or call them whatever they ask to be called. If you don't like them, call them whatever insult you can think of.
 
Originally posted by: glen
I think Professor, if they are indeed tenured is prefered.
I can't imagine not using the proper title to address a teacher. The idea of calling a Doctor or Professor, ?Mr.? just because you think you are too cool, really shows lack of maturity.
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I haven't read the rest of this thread, so I don't know what exactly has been said, however...

To actually be eligible to be called A DOCTOR, you must be in the medical field, and a: MD, Osteopath, chiropractor, surgeon, and a couple others.

You can have a DOCTORATE, but you are NOT officially a doctor. I know people with doctorates in several fields, but are not actually called "Doctor."
 
Originally posted by: LordMaul

To actually be eligible to be called A DOCTOR, you must be in the medical field, and a: MD, Osteopath, chiropractor, surgeon, and a couple others.

You can have a DOCTORATE, but you are NOT officially a doctor. I know people with doctorates in several fields, but are not actually called "Doctor."
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That's not correct at all. Anyone who as earned a doctoral degree, whether an MD or a PhD, may be referred to as Dr..

The odd one, I think, is the Juris Doctorate (JD... lawyer) which seems much closer to a Masters than a doctoral degree. Of course with the JD, you get to be "esquire".
 
As both a grad student and an undergrad, all my profs had their PhDs. I typically used Doctor and Professor interchangably, with one exception. One older professor who I spent a lot of time working with told me to call him professor as the title of doctor is usually reserved for medical doctors.

After I get my PhD (if I make it through...), I'll prefer to be called doctor, but I won't jump down anyone's throat for a mistake. Heck, I probably won't even have the guts to correct someone.

R
 
germans have an interesting custom..you get credit for everything!

i had a prof in college, she went to germany each summer..she said they called her

Frau Doctor Professor Zintel.

 
Originally posted by: Soybomb
The cool ones go by the first name....
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Definitely.

Asshole professors who hate it when you call them by their first name don't think of themselves as the same kind of human. I want to take their pompous, elitist asses out to the parking lot sometimes. I really do.

Edit:

During my freshman year:

Prof. Hudson R****, Ph. D. went by "Hud"
Prof. Kurt van W****, Ph. D. went by "Van W***" , "Dr. ****", or "Kurt" (Van is actually his middle name, not part of his last name)

Everyone else I knew went by "Dr. -insert-last-name-here- "
 
Originally posted by: heartsurgeon
germans have an interesting custom..you get credit for everything!

i had a prof in college, she went to germany each summer..she said they called her

Frau Doctor Professor Zintel.
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yea i had a teacher once who said we could address our papers to Herr Doktor Profesor, but he was just joking. He got annoyed after the first 3 papers i turned in with that title

 
I think if a teacher has earned the title of Doctor then they deserve the right to be called Doctor.
If they prefer to be called Mr. or whatever there name shall be thats their choice, but they earned
the Doctor.

On that same topic, i work with many people that have phds in math, physics, engineering.
Usually they like to be called by their first name. But when you are working, its a different situation.
 
I personally feel any good teacher should ask to be called by his or her first name as students will generally have an easier time relating to them. And teacher who introduces him or herself as "Professor Blabla" needs to pull the stick out of their ass.

That said, you should still call any professor either professor or doctor unless they tell you otherwise. Once I had a girl in my class who would repeatedly call the prof "hey teacher." Can you say rude.
 
Some professors are really anal and will not respond to you unless you address them by Dr.

A lot of my Professors can go either way, I prefer Professor XXXX because I associate Doctor with a medical docotor.
 
All my professors in college have been PhDs.

Makes it easy: I just call everyone Doctor (and everyone in this school does so as well), and not think about it.
 
Wow a lot of stuff in this thread. If they got a Ph.D. I'll call them Dr. or Professor if they teach, unless told to call him Mr. I don't get why some people are complaining it's elitist.

As for the J.D. being similar to a Masters b/c it has less research. I'd like to think its more rigorous than a master's degree but less so than a PhD. It is 3 years after all, there is research there if you write for a law review or other publication, and its a harder than a masters because of the pressure and competition.

What I'm confused is if they are an Assistant or Adjunct Professor, I'm not allowed to call them Professor unless they are a full professor?
 
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