Before term starts

Before term starts#

Welcome to CPSC 203, Programming, Problem Solving, and Algorithms ! I am very excited that you’ve decided to enrol in my class. Whether it’s your choice to take this course, or if your were forced into it by your program/degree is not really that important - you’re here now, and you’re welcomed! Many of you are entering your first year of university in a new city, and maybe even a new country! To the students local to the area, you have a big responsibility to help your fellow students feel welcome and at home, in their new home. Everyone should try and make the effort to make some new friends, study partners, and acquaintances. We’re emerging from a lockdowns and online learning, so don’t think you’re the only one whose social skills have severely deteriorated over the past few years! Take the time to introduce yourselves, share your favourite places to go, hangout, eat, socialize etc. Have fun with it, this is your new community!

Silhouettes of a group of 6 friends running up the walls of what appears to be a giant pipe. Mountains and a blue sky in the background.

Image by Maike und Björn Bröskamp from Pixabay

I know that for some of you, the days before the term starts is filled with a nervous and anxious excitement, usually the good kind, but often the bad kind too. I remember when I was a student, I would frantically check to see if course information was updated and whether there was a course website, what the class was going to be like, and if there was anything I could do to get ready for the start of class. So when I became an instructor, I tried to reach out to my students a week or two before the term started to introduce myself and give them a few tasks to do to prepare for my class and the new school term.

Note

Having some stuff to do before the term starts works for some students, but for others it really feels like I’m interrupting the last days of your summer vacations. Feel free to ignore this and come back to it whenever you’re ready after the term has started! You won’t be missing much and it really won’t take that long to do.

Here is a list of things you can do (but don’t have to) before the term starts:

Frequently asked questions (before the term starts)#

How do I address my professors at UBC?

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In my opinion (and there are other opinions!) the short answer is: always use Dr. + <last name> or Professor + <last name>. So you would call me Dr. Moosvi in emails and in-person.

The long answer is a bit of a rant, so bear with me here!

Read the long version here!

There is somewhat of a tension in the Ivory Tower as it has long been accepted and assumed that students at university are considered adults and thus, should be on a first-name basis with their professors. After all, if we want students to be comfortable in their environment, and in the name of community-building then students should drop the formalities of titles and just refer to their professors using just their first name. Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. It turns out that in our society, job titles have a lot of meaning and authority - particularly for minoritized individuals such as women and people of colour, who are already less likely to be perceived as experts (see this article for more about this). Of course it is very uncomfortable and socially inappropriate to “correct” people about your title, it seems like “bragging” or, being “uptight” and “hierarchical”, as well as a host of other adjectives I’d rather not point out. On the other hand, we also know that students come from a variety of different cultures and backgrounds and it may be completely inappropriate and foreign for them to refer to individuals of authority by their first names. For these students, it can result in crippling anxiety and fear to refer to their instructors by their first names when they insist, so rather than deal with the turmoil of these interactions, they choose to not to interact with their instructors at all. This is very unfortunate, and a reminder to us all that there are always consequences to our decisions and we need to think through our established conventions through the lens of “who is this harming?”.

Finally, I recognize that a lot of this may be “hidden curriculum” and students may not be aware of these conventions. I do not believe that students are intentionally referring to their instructors using incorrect honorifics (Mr., Ms., and the worst: Miss or Mrs). However, it is an unfortunate and dark part of our society that it tends to happen way more to my female colleagues. Practically speaking, in almost all cases^, and instructors here need a PhD to teach, so even if unintentional or accidental, you are devaluing their accomplishments and titles by referring to them as anything other than Dr. or Professor. These titles that have been incredibly hard-earned (PhDs tend to have 5-7 years of additional education and training after a bachelor’s degree), often in extremely traumatic circumstances (particularly for minoritized folks). In general, I encourage you all to look within yourself and fight against your inner biases when it comes to equity and inclusion. Specifically in this case, I suggest you always refer to your instructors at UBC with Dr. + <last name> or Professor + <last name>.

^ Note: In some cases, there may be exceptional senior grad students or exceptional teachers with Masters degrees, or substantial industrial experience teaching your courses. Even in those cases - unless they tell you otherwise - it’s usually wise (and polite) to refer to them as Dr. or Professor as well.

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👋🏽 If you have been referred to this page by me after an email exchange with me, please do not despair or feel bad! I do not think any less of you, I am just using this opportunity to educate you about appropriately addressing your instructors. There is absolutely no need to apologize, all is forgiven! Use this opportunity to learn more about this, and you’ll do the right thing next time, I’m sure 😊!

Before term starts

Contents

Before term starts#

Frequently asked questions (before the term starts)#