Dr. v Professor

[Jazz_]

Before you start to worry - this isn't some sort of fight between the two ;)

I recently read an interesting post about the correct title to use for university teaching staff. Apparently in America the title "Dr." implies greater respect than "Professor" - whereas where I come from Professor is the title for high-level academic staff.

Are the titles different in different countries? If a lecturer/tutor/etc has a PhD is it more polite to call them Dr. than Professor?

Not a big deal - just curious :D

[papayahed]

I've had a time with this as well, in the age of sending emails to professors I always stress over how to address them, in my experience most of the time those with PhD's want to be called Dr..

[wessexgirl]

I thought they were different. I may be wrong, but I always thought Professor was a higher role, and that there were less of them than Drs. It's an interesting question.

[Katy North]

My dad is a professor. Professor is the name of a profession, at least in the US. A professor is a teacher at a college or university level. Dr. is a title you receive upon completing a Ph.D.

One should address someone who has earned their Ph.D. as Dr., as it is an earned title. If it comes up in a conversation, one should say that DR. ___ is a PROFESSOR at __ College/University. Professor and Dr. are not interchangeable.

If, on rare occasion, someone had not completed a doctorate before getting a position at a university, their title is Mr. We had an older professor with an MA from Harvard at my dad's University. He was addressed as Mr. ___.

[OrphanPip]

We always addressed them as Professor _______ at my university. Although, Dr. ______ wasn't that unusual either. In my experience, very few professors actually care and many don't mind if you call them by their first name.

In French it is usually Docteur or Docteure, since professeur is used for high school teachers as well.

Edit: Just for the sake of being polite, don't forget the Prof. or the Dr.

[Niamh]

Someone who has a Ph.D is a Dr. But a Dr of a subject is also a Lecturer or a tutor.Over here we have lecturers and tutors, you wouldnt hear the term professor. They can be one or the other or both. Lecturer for lectures, tutor for tutorials. With the OU i have a tutor as i go to tutorials only. When i was in DKIT i had both tutorials and lectures for each subject. Most of the time it was the same person, but for a few classes, mainly theatre studies, i had a different lecturer and tutor. I've never had to call a tutor by Dr. We always call them by their first names here. Obviously if writing their full names down the Dr. title would be addressed.

[OrphanPip]

wiki:

"The meaning of the word professor (Latin: professor, person who professes to be an expert in some art or science, teacher of highest rank[1]) varies. In most English-speaking countries it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual. This is the case in most Commonwealth countries (except Canada) and the Republic of Ireland (which is a former Commonwealth member). However, in the United States and Canada it is a title given a much larger group of senior university teachers. In the United States it is a title also given to some teachers at colleges, and is colloquially used even for high school teachers."

Well according to the wiki it is a higher honor to be a professor in most countries, the exception seems to be the USA.

[papayahed]

Well according to the wiki it is a higher honor to be a professor in most countries, the exception seems to be the USA.

That's what I've always thought. All College/University teachers I call Professor so and so unless of course they have a PhD then I call them Dr. so and so.

[billl]

How it always struck me, studying in the U.S.:

I always used "Professor" to refer to a University "Teacher" (not referring to student-teachers/assistants, though). I am pretty sure I would've used it to refer to an instructor at a Community College, as well. I guess anything above high school and besides trade/vocational schools, excepting student teachers/assistants. "My professor said..." "Which professor do you prefer?" etc. Like, "teacher" was insufficient in esteem for places of higher education.

For me, "Dr." just meant that they had a Ph.D. (Like Niahm said.) They might not be involved in education at all.

I am not sure if any of my instructors at the university had 'merely' attained M.A. or M.S. status, and I wonder if they would've been best referred to as "Professor" or "Teacher" or "Instructor" or What. I would've said "Professor." Pretty sure they were all Ph.D.s, though.

[Amundsen]

Dr. is third most common title in my country. (After
Ing. - which can be translated as a Engineer, but big variety of people has it f.e.- technicians, chemists, etc.
Mgr. - which can be translated as a magister or something else)
Dr. can be :
MuDr. - medicinae universae doctor - doctor of medicine
JuDr. - juris utriusque doctor - lawyer or judge
........ (and more and more)
Professor is the most honorary title in my country, so its bigger than doctor and they are honored by president of Czech Republic (Václav Klaus nowadays) :)

[Lokasenna]

wiki:

"The meaning of the word professor (Latin: professor, person who professes to be an expert in some art or science, teacher of highest rank[1]) varies. In most English-speaking countries it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual. This is the case in most Commonwealth countries (except Canada) and the Republic of Ireland (which is a former Commonwealth member). However, in the United States and Canada it is a title given a much larger group of senior university teachers. In the United States it is a title also given to some teachers at colleges, and is colloquially used even for high school teachers."

Well according to the wiki it is a higher honor to be a professor in most countries, the exception seems to be the USA.

You've nailed it. At British universities, a professor has to hold a departmental chair to be worthy of that title - the sole exception being the title of Professor Emeritus, which is reserved for retired academics, most of whom attained a chair during their career anyway.

One of my tutors, only a doctor, recently spent a year teaching in America - she said it was quite unnerving to suddenly find oneself addressed as 'Professor' - said it made her feel her age!

[Jazz_]

Thanks :)

I haven't had the need to address any of my lecturers/tutors - although a few have said they don't mind being called by their first names anyway.