{"id":207,"date":"2021-09-20T21:15:36","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T19:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/pep\/?page_id=207"},"modified":"2022-05-19T18:01:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T16:01:25","slug":"comms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/pep\/comms\/","title":{"rendered":"Communicating with members of staff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One thing we’ve noticed is that students are sometimes unsure about how to address members of teaching staff. This page offers some suggestions for how to proceed. Please be aware that these are suggestions that pertain to communicating with members of the English department at the University of Lausanne; if you go on exchange, different conventions may apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to address members of staff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are a casual department. It is perfectly acceptable to address us by our first names. If that makes you uncomfortable, please use our titles. Not sure what the correct title is? Check out the department’s staff page<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Title<\/span><\/strong><\/td>How to address them<\/span><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Professeur.e (any type)<\/td>\u00ab\u00a0Professor Smith\u00a0\u00bb<\/td><\/tr>
Ma\u00eetre d’enseignement et de recherche<\/td>\u00ab\u00a0Doctor Smith\u00a0\u00bb<\/td><\/tr>
Ma\u00eetre assistant.e<\/td>\u00ab\u00a0Doctor Smith\u00a0\u00bb<\/td><\/tr>
Premier.e assistant.e<\/td>\u00ab\u00a0Doctor Smith\u00a0\u00bb<\/td><\/tr>
Assistant.e dipl\u00f4me.e<\/td>\u00ab\u00a0Mister Smith\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0Ms Smith\u00a0\u00bb<\/td><\/tr>
Doctorant.e<\/td>\u00ab\u00a0Mister Smith\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0Ms Smith\u00a0\u00bb<\/td><\/tr>
Privat-docent<\/td>\u00ab\u00a0Doctor Smith\u00a0\u00bb<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For anyone else, including charg\u00e9.e.s de cours, the rules are not so clear, so good luck! In our department, many of our charg\u00e9.e.s de cours hold a PhD and should therefore be addressed as \u00ab\u00a0Doctor\u00a0\u00bb if you want to be formal, but others have not yet attained this title. No one will be mad if you erroneously address them as \u00ab\u00a0Doctor\u00a0\u00bb. The same cannot necessarily be said of the reverse. ? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

tl;dr: use our first names!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emailing your instructor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students sometimes find it stressful to write emails to their professors, particularly in their non-native languages. A good general rule of thumb is to treat this like a professional context and behave accordingly. While we are a less formal department, we do appreciate it when students make an effort to compose their emails with care. Here are some tips to help you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1) Salutation<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best opening to your email is \u00ab\u00a0Dear NAME\u00a0\u00bb, e.g. \u00ab\u00a0Dear Molly\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0Dear Professor Smith\u00a0\u00bb if you’re feeling formal. \u00ab\u00a0Hello NAME\u00a0\u00bb also works if you know your instructor reasonably well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re not sure whether to use a title or a name, see how the member of staff has signed off in their messages. Do they use their first name? Then go ahead and use it in the salutation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoid addressing us with \u00ab\u00a0Sir\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0Madam\u00a0\u00bb. \u00ab\u00a0Sir Smith\u00a0\u00bb is a knight; \u00ab\u00a0Madam(e) Smith\u00a0\u00bb is either incredibly old-fashioned or referring to someone who runs a brothel. (The salutation \u00ab\u00a0Dear Sir or Madam\u00a0\u00bb is typically reserved for correspondence addressed to an unknown person, such as a job application letter.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also avoid greetings that are overly informal, such as \u00ab\u00a0Hey!\u00a0\u00bb, \u00ab\u00a0Dude!\u00a0\u00bb, or \u00ab\u00a0Help!\u00a0\u00bb. While you may get to a point where you can be more casual with some members of staff, it’s best to open your message a bit more politely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(2) Content<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please feel free to be direct. We appreciate concise messaging so long as it is polite. Think about the tone (i.e. the way your message sounds). Aim for \u00ab\u00a0businesslike\u00a0\u00bb if you’re unsure of how to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(3) Signing off<\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are conventions for how to close a professional email. \u00ab\u00a0All best wishes\u00a0\u00bb or some variation thereof is typically in our department. Other closings that you might find in these types of messages include \u00ab\u00a0(yours) sincerely\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0best\/kind regards\u00a0\u00bb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One thing we’ve noticed is that students are sometimes unsure about how to address members of teaching staff. This page offers some suggestions for how to proceed. Please be aware … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1002127,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-207","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1002127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}