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I am a teaching assistant and I am writing a list of instructors that I have assisted.

Should I go with full titles such as Assoc. Prof. Dr., Asst. Prof. Dr. or is it enough to write Dr. only.

I have encountered many CVs that only uses Dr. no matter the person is either assistant professor, associate professor or professor. I think people only write Prof. instead of Dr. if the person is a Professor Dr. What is the right way to do it?

The same question applies to writing names of project supervisors, thesis advisers, references etc.

The country I will send my CV is Sweden.

padawan
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5 Answers5

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I suspect that this is strongly culturally dependent. In the American tradition of egalitarianism, my C.V. has never had any titles in it at all, following the example I saw amongst my older peers and professor. On the other hand, I suspect that a German C.V. might be much more particular, since academic titles are considered important enough to be protected by law there.

My suggestion to you, then, would be to look at the CVs of people with a position similar to that you aim to obtain, and to adopt the style that they have used.

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jakebeal
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  • In my country, addressing someone with their academic title is a matter of respect and probably protected by law as well. However, I have checked some of the CVs in Sweden (the country I intend to apply for a PhD), and most of them do not even use Dr. prefix. I am really confused.

    Actually,

     – padawan Oct 01 '15 at 00:02
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    The thing is that in order to be a professor in most countries (including, most likely, Sweden), you need to be a Dr. anyway. So there's no need to repeat yourself -- simply saying Professor is good enough. – Wolfgang Bangerth Oct 01 '15 at 02:21
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    @WolfgangBangerth "The thing is that in order to be a professor in most countries, [...] you need to be a Dr. anyway." Is that actually true? As in, is holding a PhD an absolute requirement to becoming a professor, which cannot be waived? "In most countries"? (How would you even know what's required to become a professor in Namibia?) There's at least one case in the UK: Mick Aston, who was a professor of archaeology at Bristol and well known for a TV show he presented, didn't have a PhD because all his notes and thesis drafts were in a van that was stolen and he never got them back. – David Richerby Oct 01 '15 at 08:16
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    @DavidRicherby: Of course the requirement is not absolute, and you're right that it may not hold in less developed countries. But the question was about Sweden where I'm sure that, just like in all other Western European and North American countries, 99% of professors or more actually do have a PhD. – Wolfgang Bangerth Oct 01 '15 at 11:13
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    @WolfgangBangerth Sure, the great majority of professors do have PhDs. But you were claiming that they are an absolute requirement, which is a rather different proposition. – David Richerby Oct 01 '15 at 11:29
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    @cagirici Does mentioning someone's name in your CV count as "addressing" them? Do you put titles in front of your faculty coauthors' names in your list of publications, or on the first page of your papers? – JeffE Oct 01 '15 at 12:06
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    @DavidRicherby -- let's not parse words. I think most people will understand that saying "in order to be a professor...you need to be a Dr." means that it is a general requirement, not one that cannot be avoided in exceptional and rare cases. – Wolfgang Bangerth Oct 01 '15 at 15:43
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    @JeffE you, sir, have just enlightened me. – padawan Oct 01 '15 at 19:58
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I'm not sure what the question is asking exactly. Are you asking whether to include your own title, or the titles of your references? Based on everywhere I've been in North America and Europe (which doesn't include Sweden, but does include several places), I would say that an Academic CV should always include job titles in the following places:

YourFirstName YourLastName (no postnominal letters!)

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • PhD, YourGradField, FamousUniversity, 2015. (have to name the degrees here!)
  • BA, YourUnderField, RegionalUniversity, 2005.

Academic Appointments

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, YourCurrentDept, ModeratelyFamousUniversity, 2014-2015. (do use your full job title here!)

Publications

  1. "Blah, Blah, Blah: A Transdisciplinary Inquiry into Stuff," JournalOfWhateverYouStudy, 2014, pp n-m.

References

Prof. YourAdvisor (use the prenominal here).

Professor of WhateverYouStudy (use the full, fancy title here.)

Dept of WhateverYouStudy

FamousUniversity

1000 MegaFame Ave.

East Coast, America

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In my experience, I have always used the titles Professor, Associate Professor or Doctor - with an explanation of their position afterwards:

e.g. Professor Joe Bloggs, Professor (Basket Weaving)

Academics with the titles 'Professor' and 'Associate Professor' have a higher academic rank from academics with only the title 'Dr.' - the use of Professor etc. implies that the academic does have a 'Dr.' - it would be a bit redundant to use both.

These are academic ranks (source Boston University), and it is always polite and respectful to give recognition of one's rank.

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Your title framing do depend on your culture. In some countries, it is customary to only include 'Dr.' before your name and your occupation like Asst. Professor, Associate Prof., or Full Professor below your name.

Ébe Isaac
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  • "I do oppose the nesting of titles like 'Professor Dr. X'." So what? The question isn't asking for people's opinions on how certain countries style academic titles. – David Richerby Oct 01 '15 at 08:23
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    @Ébe Isaac Do note that in some cultures, nesting of titles is actually important. I'm from Serbia and there traditionally title of "Professor" is used for any teacher that has bachelor's degree or higher, so Prof. Dr is used to show that the person is indeed a university professor and not say a secondary school professor. – AndrejaKo Oct 01 '15 at 09:45
  • @AndrejaKo: Edit confirmed. – Ébe Isaac Oct 01 '15 at 15:35
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I would advise dropping the secondary titles, which are mostly academic details internal to your university. If the viewer is interested in greater detail, they can look them up themselves or ask you.

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