Contacting Faculty

The information presented below is necessarily generalized. Be sure to note any information your teachers offer you--especially in the course syllabus--regarding contact information. Many faculty have their own preferences, and those should certainly supersede any generalized advice presented here.

Office Visits

As a general rule, posted office hours are time that faculty plan to be accessible in their offices or other designated places. This does not mean, however, that they are committing to being seated in their offices every minute of that time, just waiting for the occasional passerby. It does mean that those designated times are the best opportunities to catch them without having made an appointment. If you know in advance that you want to meet with a faculty member, try to arrange a specific appointment. On the other hand, there's certainly nothing wrong with stopping by on a whim--it's just not always fruitful. Even during posted office hours, faculty may be called away to attend to other business or may already have another student appointment. During office hours, if a faculty member is busy with another student, on the phone, or even away from the office, wait a few minutes or stop back by. (Similarly, if you call during office hours and get no answer, do not assume your teacher is not there. If we are in conference with another student, most of us will not interrupt that conference to take a phone call.) As a general rule, the very worst possible time to try to catch a faculty member with an issue of any significance is right before class.

Telephone Calls

Telephone calls are a good way to get and give quick bits of information. Most faculty have voice mail and/or links to the department office for when they are unavailable. If you don't get through, leave a message. Be as specific as you can: leave your name, your phone number, a sense of the best time to return the call, and some indication of the nature of the call. Students are sometimes frustrated when faculty do not return calls almost immediately. Keep in mind that office phones are not instant messaging systems that faculty carry with them; they will return calls as their schedules permit.

E-mail Messages

Faculty all have access to e-mail, but we exercise that access in widely varying ways. Some of us have our e-mail open on our computer screens the entire time we are in our offices; some of us only check our e-mail during a specific period of time. Some of us have full access at home; some of us access e-mail only on campus. If you send an e-mail message, do so recognizing that it likely will not receive instantaneous attention. With that in mind, take time to compose your initial message to be direct, clear, and helpful.

Here are some tips:

• Subject line: Announce the nature of the message. ("Documentation question" is decidedly more useful than the generic "Help!")

• Get to the point. If you have business to deal with, get down to business. If we need to hear the convoluted backstory of a particular issue, we'll ask for it. If you really need to tell us even if we don't ask, make an appointment for an office visit.

• Make clear what you need. If you have a specific question, state it as a question. (Which of the following do you think will get the more helpful response? "I can't figure out punctuating quotations" or "Does a comma come before or after closing quotation marks?")

• Especially when you may be pressed for time or have restricted access to e-mail for response, consider including alternate contact information--like a phone number.

• Consider your audience. E-mail use has gotten very informal among the general population, but for business use and--especially--among educators, presentation is still important. Some faculty refuse to respond to messages that are rife with errors in syntax, spelling, or usage. More are willing to tolerate it in varying degrees. You should consider, though, that all of us are likely to grow weary of trying to overlook carelessly written language. Take a few extra minutes to consider how you are presenting yourself; you should always want to put your best foot forward, especially in a class which emphasizes writing.

• Be deliberate in what you say and how you say it. E-mail messaging may seem an impersonal mode of communication, which opens the door to the use of inappropriate language or messages. Consider, though, that for your teachers (if not for your peers) e-mail is a medium for conducting business, so messages that contain inappropriate language or personal attacks can invite negative and unproductive responses.

• "Sign" your message with your full name and include the course and section number to ensure clear identification.

• Don't expect an immediate response. If the substance of your message is urgent, you would do well to consider alternative means of making contact or locating information (e.g., calling the teacher's office, contacting a classmate).