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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCollege student journal Vol. 41; no. 4; pp. 1168 - 1182
Main Authors Ellis, Vickie Shamp, Travis, Jon E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Project Innovation, Inc 01.12.2007
Project Innovation Austin LLC
Subjects
Academic Rank (Professional)
Affective Objectives
College environment
College Faculty
College Students
Educational aspects
Ethical aspects
Forms of address
Higher Education
Semantic Differential
Semantics
Student Attitudes
Teacher Student Relationship
Teacher-student relations
Teacher-student relationships
United States
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Summary: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. (Contains 3 tables.)
ISSN:0146-3934