Students calling you by first name

[mamselle]

Ah, bon! Une autre francophone!!

M.

[the_geneticist]

Students at the previous tiny SLAC called most of their male professors [Lastname] or Dr. [Lastname] and their female professors [firstname].  I wanted to be called Dr. Geneticist, they wanted to call me [firstname], I had to settle for Geneticist.  Really weird, sexist local culture.
I'd put your formal Dr. [Lastname] on the syllabus, your email, etc.  But your choice of what to have students call you in the classroom.  Tell them that you will use the name they prefer to be called and that [name] is what you'd prefer to be called.  Give them choices if you'd like.

[old_hat]

My experience mirrors that of Geneticist. I had no preference for being called Dr. Old_Hat until I saw that formality was a means of mitigating gender bias in this region. At which point I was able to transition my students through firm consistency. I use Dr. Old_Hat in my emails, on my syllabus, in the class, and even in the field - where informality tends to creep in.

[Juvenal]

Why even tell them your first name?  If they want to know it they can look in the catalog for the faculty list.  They won't.  Put "Professor X. Y. Zed" on your syllabus wherever your name might be put down.  It seems then that they will think of you, and call you, "Professor Zed" when they address you.  This is for first or second year students; after that, let them call you "Dr. Sweetums."

[the_geneticist]

Why even tell them your first name?  If they want to know it they can look in the catalog for the faculty list.  They won't.  Put "Professor X. Y. Zed" on your syllabus wherever your name might be put down.  It seems then that they will think of you, and call you, "Professor Zed" when they address you.  This is for first or second year students; after that, let them call you "Dr. Sweetums."

Our full names, first and last, were posted on our office doors.  And the course catalog listed folks as Dr. Firstname Lastname.  And the department website had everyone's full names.  It would have been impossible to "hide" that information from the students. 

[Katrina Gulliver]

Why even tell them your first name?  If they want to know it they can look in the catalog for the faculty list.  They won't.  Put "Professor X. Y. Zed" on your syllabus wherever your name might be put down.  It seems then that they will think of you, and call you, "Professor Zed" when they address you.  This is for first or second year students; after that, let them call you "Dr. Sweetums."

Our full names, first and last, were posted on our office doors.  And the course catalog listed folks as Dr. Firstname Lastname.  And the department website had everyone's full names.  It would have been impossible to "hide" that information from the students.

Yep. My email is firstname.lastname@school. There's no way to hide it.

[eigen]

Students at the previous tiny SLAC called most of their male professors [Lastname] or Dr. [Lastname] and their female professors [firstname].  I wanted to be called Dr. Geneticist, they wanted to call me [firstname], I had to settle for Geneticist.  Really weird, sexist local culture.
I'd put your formal Dr. [Lastname] on the syllabus, your email, etc.  But your choice of what to have students call you in the classroom.  Tell them that you will use the name they prefer to be called and that [name] is what you'd prefer to be called.  Give them choices if you'd like.

I find one of the most important contributors to this is how faculty address each other / talk about each other to students.

I'm male, and introduce myself to students as firstname because I find it helps them feel more comfortable with me. But I refer to all of my colleagues by Dr/Prof Lastname when around students to help reinforce that culture and let each person specify what they feel comfortable with.

[mahagonny]

I am a guy so I won't have questions about people showing me less respect because of gender. I get students of all kinds:
1. They call me Prof Mahagonny
2. They call me Dr. Mahagonny. I immediately ask them not to because I don't want to appear to be making false claims about my accomplishments
3. They call me by first name though I never invited them to
4. They ask me what I prefer to be called and I answer 'anything but "doctor."'
5. My last name only.

I find, now, being older, I don't mind the first name because it seems to signify that I'm not so old they can't relate to me. When I was younger I thought more about getting respect and having authority. These days I have so much cynicism and disbelief about the crazy trajectory the department has gone through, it's all a bit surreal.

See, when you are a part time adjunct and the students are calling you professor, the institution is getting away with something. They get to maintain the appearance that they maintain healthy respectful relationships with the people who work hard to see keep their enterprise going, Which of course is a fat fucking lie that flatters them.
I don't let it become an identity crisis.

[larryc]

Whenever I see a professor telling students "Call me Bob!" or whatever, I quietly classify that professor as a possible sexual predator.

Titles are there to remind us of power differentials. When these are forgotten, people get hurt, and it is almost always the less powerful who suffer.

When a student defaults to my first name (rare because I am a white male) I smile broadly and correct them: "Professor C, please." They mumble an embarrassed apology and I smile again and so "No problem!" and we move on.

[ergative]

Whenever I see a professor telling students "Call me Bob!" or whatever, I quietly classify that professor as a possible sexual predator.

Titles are there to remind us of power differentials. When these are forgotten, people get hurt, and it is almost always the less powerful who suffer.

When a student defaults to my first name (rare because I am a white male) I smile broadly and correct them: "Professor C, please." They mumble an embarrassed apology and I smile again and so "No problem!" and we move on.

That seems both a bit extreme and also, by the same reasoning, not extreme enough. Power differentials are why sexual predators are so dangerous: the existing structures work to facilitate their predations because victims don't have the standing to protest. So you could also argue that professors who work super hard to reinforce their superior position are possible predators, because they want to remind potential victims to comply.

Possibly there's a connection between nefarious activity and first-naming behavior, but I suspect it's not direct or strong enough to use as any kind of red-flag system.

[marshwiggle]

Whenever I see a professor telling students "Call me Bob!" or whatever, I quietly classify that professor as a possible sexual predator.

A retired female colleague who was one of the best teachers in our department had her students call her by her first name. She was very demanding, but students learned a ton from her courses. She kept in contact with many after graduation. She won a teaching award, and had the respect of her students.

The retired male colleague who I recall as one of the most picky about being called "Dr." was one of the most abrasive people I've worked with. I think the liklihood of him seducing a student is about the same as covid vaccinations being completed next week.

Titles are there to remind us of power differentials. When these are forgotten, people get hurt, and it is almost always the less powerful who suffer.

When a student defaults to my first name (rare because I am a white male) I smile broadly and correct them: "Professor C, please." They mumble an embarrassed apology and I smile again and so "No problem!" and we move on.

I'm not a "Dr.", and periodically I mention that. I explain how to pronounce by last name, but I sign emails by my first name, which is how most refer to me. I understand how particularly young, female faculty in some disciplines may find insisting on the title helpful to get respect.

However, my experience is that being respected and being referred to by the correct title have a very low correlation. A first name can be used with great respect, and a title can be used with extreme contempt.

And given the number of stories about people being disciplined or even fired over accusations of things as minor as using certain language in a class, the "power differential" can go either way. A predatory or vindictive person can cause a lot of damage from any position. Generally the difference is that the "powerful" person benefits from secrecy, while the "non-powerful" person benefits from publicity.

[Caracal]

Whenever I see a professor telling students "Call me Bob!" or whatever, I quietly classify that professor as a possible sexual predator.

Titles are there to remind us of power differentials. When these are forgotten, people get hurt, and it is almost always the less powerful who suffer.

When a student defaults to my first name (rare because I am a white male) I smile broadly and correct them: "Professor C, please." They mumble an embarrassed apology and I smile again and so "No problem!" and we move on.

That seems both a bit extreme and also, by the same reasoning, not extreme enough. Power differentials are why sexual predators are so dangerous: the existing structures work to facilitate their predations because victims don't have the standing to protest. So you could also argue that professors who work super hard to reinforce their superior position are possible predators, because they want to remind potential victims to comply.

Possibly there's a connection between nefarious activity and first-naming behavior, but I suspect it's not direct or strong enough to use as any kind of red-flag system.

The important thing about boundaries is not really where you put them, but that they exist. Some instructors would never mention anything about their lives. Others, me included, don't see any problem if I mention that I have a kid or a wife in some context. However, it isn't like there isn't a line. Just because I mention that I'm married doesn't mean it would be ok for me to confide in a student about marriage problems.

[ergative]

I'm not a "Dr.", and periodically I mention that. I explain how to pronounce by last name, but I sign emails by my first name, which is how most refer to me. I understand how particularly young, female faculty in some disciplines may find insisting on the title helpful to get respect.

However, my experience is that being respected and being referred to by the correct title have a very low correlation. A first name can be used with great respect, and a title can be used with extreme contempt.

Yes, I agree entirely that insisting on a certain term of address will not create respect where it doesn't exist already. But I do think the terms of address issue is important because it's such a strong indicator of the thoughtless sexism that pervades a lot of academia. I once had a student constantly refer to a colleague as 'Ms Lastname', and so I said, 'you mean Professor Lastname?' The student responded, 'oh, she has her doctors' degree?' and I responded 'yes, she has a doctorate, and in fact she's the head of the entire department.' This was not a woman who might have been mistaken for a grad student TA who hadn't finished her degree yet. She was a venerable, white-haired lady who ran the place. The student wasn't making a mistake about whether she had finished her dissertation. He was looking at an full-time employed woman in charge of his degree program, and still thought that she didn't have a doctorate.

I believe that many students carry into university education an unthinking assumption that female faculty are like the teachers they've always had, while male faculty are Proper Professors, PhD. The more we correct that assumption by reminding them that female faculty are also Proper Professors, the more we can undo their unthinking worldview.

[Mobius]

I had a student call me a shortened version of my name once, and I gave them the stinkeye. It was getting into "instructor is my buddy" territory.