Term of address
I ask my students to refer to me as Professor Roberts. It's a position I decided to take when I first started teaching, and despite how I don't feel totally comfortable and confident doing it, it's one that I have stuck to.
I guess I'm not a hundred percent sure it's the right thing to do. After all, I'm only an adjunct professor, not a full one, so it may be claiming a title I don't really deserve. Also, insistence on titles (particularly ones you only have marginal claim to) tends to be a sign of being a self-aggrandizing asshole. I worry I'm coming off wrong in both of those respects, and as such I have a hard time being a stickler for it when they call me "Miss Roberts" or "Miss" or even by just my first name.
But the reason I do it is on a particular principle. People are less likely to respect the authority of women as professors and, whether consciously or unconsciously, are more likely to fail to use their proper titles when they are absolutely warranted-- like when they are indisputable, FULL professors. So I decided that in an effort to combat that, I would have them call me Professor Roberts just to get them in the habit of addressing their female college instructors that way-- even when they're young, or perhaps not what they expect a professor to be like, like me. I also think it helps shore up my personal authority, which I worry that my relative youth and inexperience undermines, but mostly because I want to contribute to that overall sense of how women professors deserve the same respect.
I guess I'm not a hundred percent sure it's the right thing to do. After all, I'm only an adjunct professor, not a full one, so it may be claiming a title I don't really deserve. Also, insistence on titles (particularly ones you only have marginal claim to) tends to be a sign of being a self-aggrandizing asshole. I worry I'm coming off wrong in both of those respects, and as such I have a hard time being a stickler for it when they call me "Miss Roberts" or "Miss" or even by just my first name.
But the reason I do it is on a particular principle. People are less likely to respect the authority of women as professors and, whether consciously or unconsciously, are more likely to fail to use their proper titles when they are absolutely warranted-- like when they are indisputable, FULL professors. So I decided that in an effort to combat that, I would have them call me Professor Roberts just to get them in the habit of addressing their female college instructors that way-- even when they're young, or perhaps not what they expect a professor to be like, like me. I also think it helps shore up my personal authority, which I worry that my relative youth and inexperience undermines, but mostly because I want to contribute to that overall sense of how women professors deserve the same respect.