What's In A Name?

When I was an undergrad in the mid 1980s attending SUNY Purchase, I called most of my teachers by their first names.  I never thought about why they didn't want to be called "Professor So & So" or "Dr. So & So" and it didn't seem disrespectful to call them Lee or Louise or Bob (three of the best literature professors I had at Purchase).  Maybe it was the times, maybe it was the campus climate (the college is best known as a performing arts school), maybe it was because they were young.  In the years since, I've considered what my own career might have looked like had I pursued a place in the field of higher education after getting my BA, and I know that with a PhD, I would have expected students to call me Dr. D'Ascoli - a hard won, well deserved title.  Alas, that is no longer in the cards. Nonetheless, I am a college writing instructor, albeit "contingent faculty" and I frequently find myself wondering whether I should, in fact, be referred to as "Professor D'Ascoli."

On some level, it doesn't feel right asking students to call me professor.  Although I tell the students to call me Mrs. D'Ascoli, many students do, in fact, call me Professor D'Ascoli.  Here's where the dictionary helps (or not).  One definition for professor is "a faculty member of the highest academic rank at an institution of higher education."  Another definition is "a teacher at a university, college, or sometimes secondary school."  Clearly, I have the right to be called professor.  But I am an adjunct, which literally means "something joined or added to another thing but not an essential part of it."  Anyone who is an adjunct knows that this is anything but true.  We are, at this moment in history, absolutely essential to the successful functioning of institutions of higher learning.

According to a recent study, adjuncts make up more than 75% of the faculty at colleges nationwide. Are we not then in many ways more valuable than our esteemed full-time, tenured colleagues?  And with such value, should we not be considered just as "professorial" as they? Perhaps my fellow adjuncts take no issue with the designation "professor."  Why should there be any distinction when we are, in fact, doing the same jobs as full time faculty?  On some level, I agree.  It's a small enough reward for a job that pays poorly and has no security or benefits.  I think it is because adjuncts are so marginalized that I can't quite consider myself a professor.  How can I take myself seriously when my attachment to the field of higher education is so tenuous?

The answer is simple: I can take myself seriously because I am serious about teaching.  I don't stand in front of my students in a transient capacity - I put my heart and soul into the endeavor.  I care very much about making a connection and imparting knowledge and helping students see the value of learning and thinking critically.  And I want to grow in my profession by learning more effective ways to engage with students.  I have only begun to understand my value as a teacher, but I believe my students see how much I care about the job I am doing.  If that's the criteria for holding such a lofty title as professor, then I guess I deserve it after all.