How to address a professor in person at US universities?

Question

At US universities, how should one address a professor while talking to him or her? In my home country, we usually address the professors as either "sir" or "madam" while talking about our queries in person.

What's the norm at US universities?

Answer 1

"Professor Lastname" is a sensible default, unless and until the professor asks you to call them something else, or you become aware of local customs that are different.

"Sir" and "Madam" are normally not used.

Answer 2

Assume that you should be formal unless invited otherwise. Of course other students at the institution can give you advice, but Professor or Professor Williams is normally used. Some what less formal is "doc" or "prof", but only with permission. I was once on first name basis with most of the professors while a grad student, but not with my dissertation advisor. He was European and was always "Professor".

I don't think there is anything like a nationwide norm. At most there might be a departmental norm, not even one for an entire university. But it is best to seek guidance. Assume the formal until you know better.

In my own case I had to convince doctoral students to call me by my given name. They seemed uncomfortable calling me anything but "professor". But we wanted the doctoral students to think of us more like colleagues so we pressed them a bit to use personal names.

Answer 3

By default, it is always appropriate to call your professor "Professor Smith" or "Dr. Roberts".

However, it is usual that the professor will either ask you to call them by the first name, e.g. "Michael" or "Jane"; if this does not happen but you do work with the professor quite closely or are on friendly terms with them, there will be a moment when one goes on to the first-name basis anyway.

I heard that some professors prefer their relations with students to remain formal and to continue to be called Professor or Dr., but I've never experienced this personally.

Note: In some countries like France, an equivalent of Mr./Ms. may be the norm (e.g. Monsieur), but in the U.S., that may be considered as implying that the person is not a Doctor and, therefore, an insult.

Answer 4

There is no norm across US universities.

I have had lots of professors announce on the first day of class that they dislike being referred to as "Professor" and to simply call them Mr/Ms [lastname]. Some even said they preferred being called by their first name. Had the same experience when conversing with professors outside of class (I was not their student or anything).

Other professors would take offense and lecture you if you do not call them Dr [lastname] or if you don't refer to them as "Professor". This seemed to be a minority of professors.

In the grand scheme of things it does not matter to most professors. I have seen people refer to professors in a vast variety of ways and I don't think most mind unless it can come across as particularly disrespectful (avoid first name unless they say its fine to refer to them that way, don't use casual slang when referring to them like "Yo homedog stevens", etc). I would default to simply "Professor" or if there is more than one professor in the room I might say "Mr./Ms.[lastname]".

There is also no harm in just asking a professor if they prefer to be called Professor Stevens or Mr. Stevens or what have you if you are worried. It's not as if they will take offense at that question.