Professional Titles in Higher Education: Do They Matter to Students?

How students relate to educators' titles or lack thereof is a component of the student-teacher relationship virtually ignored in higher education research. The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of titles in academic relationships, with special focus given to how students respond to forms of address used by faculty in the higher education environment. By utilizing three dimensions of the Semantic Differential Technique, this study assessed college and university students' perceptions of the following: Mr./Ms., Dean, Dr., Professor, and last name only. Based on the findings of the study, students do perceive educators' titles as significantly distinct. Forms of address generate connotations that educators should consider as they initially introduce themselves to their students. ********** Professional title considerations involve social mandates that seem to decrease the uncertainty of interaction and to increase the realization that some individuals are intoxicated by titles--their own and/or others' (Harris, 1999; Holberg, Garza, Kelly, & Moses, 1994). Relationships are shaped, in part, around forms of address. In informal situations, people may often hear the phrase, Just call me (by my first name). According to Hawks (1977), relationships clearly represent types of structures, and a person's identity is directly related to such structures. Hawks described the true nature of things, not in terms of the things themselves, but in terms of the constructed and perceived relationships between them. Asking a person to use a first name indicates a different relationship form than expecting someone to use a title along with a last-name. Relationships with significant others in an individual's life form an individual's self-perceptions (Adler, Rosenfeld, Towne, & Proctor, 1998). Furthermore, as Lambert and Tucker (1976) alluded, illocutionary frameworks are thought of as containing hidden meanings. If one initiates or responds to a greeting in stereotypical fashion, the participants may not consciously think about the title within the greeting. However, when the stereotypical greeting is threatened (meaning one does not speak his/her part appropriately), then the meaning of the greeting becomes obtrusive and perhaps the centerpiece of the ensuing discussion (Parkin, 1979). An understanding of how and to what extent the educator's title makes the academic relationship more or less complicated for the student in higher education served as the axis of this study. Educators become important persons in students' lives at any level (Hargreaves, 1972; Adler et al., 1998). Therefore, students deserve and need a healthy student-educator climate. Professional mores in K-12 educational systems in the United States strongly influence and more often mandate the students' use of professional and/or courtesy titles when addressing educators. Many pedagogical instructors have taught educators that titles help define the authoritative position and set a tone of respect. In 1966, Sylwester, a K-12 pedagogical instructor, taught that a teacher's school name must begin with a Miss, Mrs., or Mr. Sylwesters' position may or may not adeptly transfer to the higher education arena. Not many higher education professors have been in pedagogical methods courses. Yet, college and university students often think their instructors' school names begin with a Dr., Dean, Professor, or Mr./Ms. Discovering more about students' attitudes regarding such titles can provide more insight into the learning atmosphere. Since the role of address plays a consequential part in interpersonal communication (DeLisle, 1993), and the student-teacher relationship is critical, the use of titles, or lack thereof, has emerged as a higher education practice worthy of investigation. In some college and university environments, students and professors consistently establish non-reciprocal patterns of address, and in other higher education environments, students and professors consistently use reciprocal patterns of address. …