Is it OK for a college professor to wear shorts and/or flip-flops? (look, professional)
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Theoretically, it shouldn't matter what you wear. Check-out what the sociologist are wearing.
But as a practical matter, both your students and your colleagues will take you more seriously if you dress at least business casual.
At this stage in your career, I would wear a tie. You can save the shorts and flip-flops for after you get tenure someplace.
tie in an academic setting - totally unneccessary, and potentially off-putting.
Unless the majority of folks in the department wear ties - and I've not seen that ever in the last 40 years - don't bother with a tie. Maybe for an awards ceremony (do other faculty wear ties at awards ceremonies?) - but not needed for teaching classes and holding office hours.
No one (part time or full time) at our computer science department wears a suit or tie. That would be way, way over the top. I attend (and may be teaching at) a regional University here in California (part of the CSU system), not a top tier University, so maybe that's why its more relaxed. A lot of faculty basically just wear a T-shirt (or polo shirt), jeans, and tennis shoes. The only faculty member who really dresses formal is our department chair, who usually wears a long-sleeve button down shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. And he used to dress more casually prior to becoming the department chair.
I'm not adding much, but just another vote that if you are a typical graduate student and are teaching undergraduates who are not that many years younger than yourself, it will make your life easier to try to look as professional as you can. Do you really want them to be wondering if you are established enough to be teaching them? The younger and less experienced you are, generally the more this matters so looking at the casual dress of established faculty members in your department is not a good guide to what you should do.
I'm surprised that you can wear flip flops and shorts in lab; both of these are banned for safety reasons in a lot of fields.
tie in an academic setting - totally unneccessary, and potentially off-putting.
Unless the majority of folks in the department wear ties - and I've not seen that ever in the last 40 years - don't bother with a tie. Maybe for an awards ceremony (do other faculty wear ties at awards ceremonies?) - but not needed for teaching classes and holding office hours.
It probably depends on the department you teach in.
I wear a tie on most days, and am business casual on the others.
It's been fascinating reading the responses here ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjd07
Does it then become a gender issue? I don't mean that to be argumentative at all. I've been reading the responses on this thread and pondering if it would be different if the professor was female. Would a female professor have more "wiggle room" relative to attire as long as it was within the guidelines of the institution where she is teaching?
A female professor would very likely have much less "wiggle room." At my college many, many men teach in t-shirts, blue jeans, and sneakers. I have NEVER seen a woman teach in that attire. (Same thing at my graduate alma mater, Michigan, at least in my department.)
I usually dress professionally but comfortably (have never taught in blue jeans, nor a t-shirt!). One semester, though, I neglected to change my shoes from sneakers to dress shoes about half the time I taught one class. One student commented on that on my evaluations. He/she gave me the highest ratings on EVERYTHING (in other words, he/she thought I was a great TEACHER), but felt the need to write that I "should have dressed more professionally." I was flabbergasted. As part of committee work, I have reviewed literally thousands of student evaluations on more than 100 professors, and not one male ever got ANY comment about how he dressed ... including those who teach in t-shirts and blue jeans.
It's been fascinating reading the responses here ...
A female professor would very likely have much less "wiggle room." At my college many, many men teach in t-shirts, blue jeans, and sneakers. I have NEVER seen a woman teach in that attire. (Same thing at my graduate alma mater, Michigan, at least in my department.)
I usually dress professionally but comfortably (have never taught in blue jeans, nor a t-shirt!). One semester, though, I neglected to change my shoes from sneakers to dress shoes about half the time I taught one class. One student commented on that on my evaluations. He/she gave me the highest ratings on EVERYTHING (in other words, he/she thought I was a great TEACHER), but felt the need to write that I "should have dressed more professionally." I was flabbergasted. As part of committee work, I have reviewed literally thousands of student evaluations on more than 100 professors, and not one male ever got ANY comment about how he dressed ... including those who teach in t-shirts and blue jeans.
Yes, that student clearly doesn't have his priorities in order.
I'm not adding much, but just another vote that if you are a typical graduate student and are teaching undergraduates who are not that many years younger than yourself, it will make your life easier to try to look as professional as you can. Do you really want them to be wondering if you are established enough to be teaching them? The younger and less experienced you are, generally the more this matters so looking at the casual dress of established faculty members in your department is not a good guide to what you should do.
I'm surprised that you can wear flip flops and shorts in lab; both of these are banned for safety reasons in a lot of fields.
It's not that type of lab. My field is computer science, so by "lab" I am referring to a computer lab.
I think it's ok for a college professor to wear shorts and flip flops to class, especially when it's in a warm climate. As long as your clothing isn't disrupting the class, and I doubt that it does, and as long as you keep your feet and toenails well pedicured and neatly trimmed, I don't see it as a big deal.
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