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I am writing a personal statement for a PhD application and I’d like to refer to my previous lecturer. He was a Dr. at the time he taught me but he is now a professor at another institution.

Is there a neat way of referring to someone like this or do I have to go with something clumsy as:

I was taught by Dr. X (now Prof.) on his course about Y.

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    A title refers to a person, not to the time you have met that person, you can use Professor X. – user102 Nov 19 '14 at 15:41
  • Has X's doctorate been rescinded? (Is that even possible?) – 200_success Nov 19 '14 at 20:11
  • At least in some schools in the United States, "Professor" is used to indicate a faculty member who doesn't hold a doctorate, so maybe be a little careful. Also, you get rid of a lot of clum when you dump the passive voice. "Dr. X, now professor of high-energy magic at... inspired me when..." – Bob Brown Nov 20 '14 at 14:07
  • @200_success: Yes, doctorates can be rescinded. A search for "doctorate rescinded" finds several. One has to have screwed up pretty badly, though. – Bob Brown Nov 20 '14 at 14:14
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The person is now a professor, so refer to them primarily as that. If you are concerned about confusion, you can add the additional information in the sub-clause, where it reads more smoothly:

I took course Y from Prof. X, while he was a [lecturer, postdoc, whatever] at [instutition]"

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