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"Salty." (Scott McLemee)
"Unvarnished." (Phi Beta Cons)
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"Except for University Diaries, most academic blogs are tedious."
(Rate Your Students)
"I think of Soltan as the Maureen Dowd of the blogosphere,
except that Maureen Dowd is kind of a wrecking ball of a writer,
and Soltan isn't. For the life of me, I can't figure out her
politics, but she's pretty fabulous, so who gives a damn?"
(Tenured Radical)

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Hey.


From today’s Washington Post:


Dear Miss Manners:

I am a student at a large university, and thus most of my communication with professors (for better or for worse) is done in writing (via e-mail). I find myself over and over in the same predicament as to how to address my professors.

When initiating contact, I always greet the professor with "Dear Dr. Jack Jones."

However, more often than not the professor will respond to my message with "Dear Seth . . . Sincerely, Jack." What is the correct way for me to respond that is neither haughty nor rude? Should I continue to use the professor's full name and title in my future correspondence, or should I assume that by using only their first name, they are inviting me to do the same?

******************************************

They are inviting you to think of them as your equals and your friends, but Miss Manners advises you not to count on such pals to be good to you at grade time. Rather than mistaking a posture intended to make themselves feel young as a personal gesture, she would suggest continuing to address them by the title of professor or doctor, whichever is more used in your university (and the first name should be omitted from the salutation).





It’s a small subject, maybe, but one to which I’ve given some thought.

First: I’m pleased that students virtually always write Dear Professor Soltan in emails (I’ve never gotten Dear Dr. Margaret Soltan -- that sounds weird). As our email relationship heats up, the student will often shorten things to Professor, or Prof Soltan, which I also like. Some students will start our email idyll with Hello, which is fine as well. Wild hairy hippie students, for whom I have a soft spot, will sometimes go right to Hey. Or Hey! Miss Manners would be appalled, but I don’t mind.

Second: When I respond, I sign myself Margaret Soltan, or, if we’re a little more intime, Margaret S. Virtually never Margaret. Most students continue to address me, in further emails, as Professor.



To be sure, most of my activities at this point in my life are pathetic efforts to make myself feel young, so Miss Manners must be right that my disinclination to sign myself Professor Soltan is part of that whole thing. What it mainly feels like to me, though, is my all-American skittishness when it comes to formal titles. Having spent time in Europe, I’m phobic about the slightest chance of being confused with horrific Dottoressas.