Are you a "Professor", or a "Mrs."?

[BeenThereDoneThat74]

I was just talking to a new colleague of mine (who is my friend as well). She will be starting at my school this semester, and has worked in a state university in the past. We got on the subject of what the students call us at my school. I've always had a problem with this: they call us Mrs and Ms (unless you are a Dr). Some do call us Professor, if they have been in other schools before ours (b/c that's what all other students call their professors). But we refer to each other that way, so this is obviously where they are getting it from.

I don't like this, for three reasons:

-It makes me feel old (not to mention that some of my students are older than me, so it feels weird that they are calling me Ms).

-It makes me feel like an elementary school teacher, especially when some of my colleagues call me Ms in front of the students (like they don't know we have first names)

- I thought I earned the right to be called professor (we all have Master's degrees).

One of my colleagues suggested it was because we don't have doctorates (they'd call us Dr. then). Others have suggested that it is b/c we are not a university, but a privately owned school.

What are you called, and why?

Incidentally, my friend said she is going to introduce herself as "Prof." She said she thinks it's weird to go from "Prof" to "Ms." I agree.

[Annieb2]

Interesting. I'm a graduate student in the Nursing Education Program at a large University. I always address my professors with Dr. ...., until they tell me to call them by their first name that is how my professors are addressed.

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

I continue to be surprised that our instructors ask us to call them by their first names. In our orientation we were told this is the culture of the nursing program. This is the case at community college and university RN programs in my area. I'm thinking this may be due to regional/cultural differences in the Western US.

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

I am not an instructor, I just graduated in May. I just called my teachers by their first name but addressed them formally in E-mail; if it was applicable (i.e. some of my clinical instructors only had their BSN, I addressed them by first name unless they had a Masters (professor) or higher (Dr.)). Maybe because my school was small and a holistic program, I don't know, but we addressed them by their first name. In fact, during my whole college career while obtaining my A.A. and then BSN, I have never addressed any of my professors/teachers by "professor" or "Dr." or "Mr/Mrs" ever, nor have I ever heard another student do so.

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

I should add that my experience with nursing instructors on a first-name basis comes from a community college with primarily older students/career changers and a university RN-BSN program. I can't imagine young traditional students (19-22 year olds) calling their instructors by their first names; it just feels different.

[dorimar, BSN, RN]

I always addressed those with MD and PHd as "Doctor". As for myself and how I expect my students to address me (I only have MSN, but doubt I would feel differently if I had a doctorate), I use my first name. I think it should be instructor preference. I feel that these are adults preparing for the field in which we will be colleagues. They are not elementary students. I do not feel it is for others to tell me what I should or should not allow. I do not tell others that they should not require deference and title when they are addressed.