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[notasecy]

I work in a large public state university where titles are names for budget lines. In a 5 line system, I am third in the professional rank; those above me are adminsitrative Deans.

My working title is Program Administrator. Which is suitable - I work with applicants, students, alumni; I plan events, write publicity materials, strategize for fundraising; I process a lot of paperwork for HR, etc.

I have been working for 13 years; 6 in a University setting. I have never been a secretary, or an admin assistant. I value the work those professionals do, but it has not been part of my personal career path.

I've been at this university since May and many people - students and faculty - are referring to me recently as a secretary. It started about a month ago, when a new faculty member came into our group.

I feel very demorialized every time I hear it, and yet I have not been able to get a meeting with my supervisor (faculty director of the program). Well, today I have a chance to talk about it.

I'd love to hear your advice as to how to broach this subject. I just feel like where I work the tradition is that if you are not faculty - you are a secretary. Which means I do not want to be here.

Thanks for listening; and words of wisdom as to how to bring this up are welcome!

[facultyspouse]

I have no real words of wisdom. I often get treated this way. I had someone recently ask me to do something that clearly fell into the realm of a secretary's responsibility. I directed her to her own secretary. I am supported by my own supervisor in upholding my position as a professional position.  The reality on the ground is that many people have that view of "not a faculty member, must be administrative assistant or of 'lesser' value." I actually have a Ph.D. and still get treated that way. It'd be great if some faculty members chimed in here with some advice.

[crazybatlady]

First of all, I understand the importance and power of naming.  I think you should be called whatever you think is appropriate for your position.

I also know, however, that people can be stupid and arrogant and insecure.  You clearly think they are calling you a secretary to demean you.  What's so bad about being a secretary?  Does your boss call you a secretary?  Do your peers call you a secretary? 

This falls in the same line as being called Doctor or Professor versus Misses, doesn't it? 

Just some thoughts from someone who's copied, hole-punched, and plastic-bound her way to the top of the book pile.  As a professor/secretary.  Because most professors are secretarial too, you know.

[voxprincipalis]

Perhaps you can broach the topic by saying, "when you refer to me as a secretary, it makes people think that it is appropriate to ask me to help them with all kinds of clerical tasks that are not my job to do. Additionally, it makes it harder for me to be treated on the same level as all the other Program Administrators. Let me just clarify that my role is [XYZ] and is not [ABC]."

VP

[larryc]

You have to stop this yourself, and it isn't that hard.  When someone refers to you as a secretary interrupt IMMEDIATELY and say, "Actually, I am not a secretary, I am the Program Administrator."  You won't have to do this for long.

If you go through your supervisor it only makes you look more insecure, and well, secretarial.

[prytania3]

You have to stop this yourself, and it isn't that hard.  When someone refers to you as a secretary interrupt IMMEDIATELY and say, "Actually, I am not a secretary, I am the Program Administrator."  You won't have to do this for long.

If you go through your supervisor it only makes you look more insecure, and well, secretarial.

Ditto.

[notasecy]

Thanks everyone! You are right, I need to nip it in the bud as soon as I hear it. VP, I may use your exact words.

Crazybatlady - I am not offended by clerical work; in my experience, every job has some. I am offended by my other capabilities being disregarded. And the assumption that goes along with being a secretary - that you are there to do secretarial work, when really the job is not that. And no one else calls me secretary - just a few students and the new prof.

This isn't a matter of political correctness, it's a matter of respect for one's professional role.

[supernumerary]

I feel very demorialized every time I hear it, and yet I have not been able to get a meeting with my supervisor (faculty director of the program). Well, today I have a chance to talk about it.

I can relate to the feeling demoralized part - as CBL says it's a similar thing when a female prof is called Miss all the time instead of Dr (which still happens to me). The advice given here is good - by all means take action, but also I think it's important to try not to let it make you feel demoralized. Especially since the problem seems to be caused by that new prof. In a way, making a concerted effort to insist that 'I'm not a secretary' may not make people respect you any more than they do. And I'm guessing at bottom is a respect issue, otherwise you wouldn't be demoralized about it. Someone posted on another thread about his French teacher who kept insisting on being called Dr and wouldn't respond unless called by correct title...the moral of which is, don't protest too much about what people call you as it may make you look a little petty.

Do your work, don't do 'secretarial' work if it's not your job, and in time people wake up and smell the coffee and feel very very stupid for ever having thought you were or called you a secretary. Some of my best moments have been when people accustomed to calling me Miss are told by someone else who's highly respected 'Dr SuperN is great, isn't she' and then seeing the look on their face as realization hits. One day your detractors - especially that new faculty member who seems to have caused the problem here - will have egg on their face and you'll have the last laugh as they eat their 'secretarial' words.

[j_source]

I like VP's advice and will add one point.  When I was fairly new to this institution in an administrative role, there was a committee discussion to clarify a policy - something about to whom a student should address an appeal.  The recipients of the appeal were identified in the new policy statement as "Dr. John Smith, Dr. Tommy Lee Jones, and J Source."   I didn't know if the chair was being careless, thoughtless, or somehow dissing me personally.  I  sent the following email to the committee chair. 

"Dear Thor, in the interest of consistancy, I suggest the sentence read "Dr. John Smith, Dr. Tommy Lee Jones, and Dr. J Source.  Thanks, J"

I immediately got an abject apology for the "error" and a thank you for being gracious.  You might want to phrase it as neutrally as possible since both you and the faculty member will probably work together for a while.


 

[zharkov]

A practical suggestion, get one of those desk signs at Staples etc. that says something like:

    Pat Notasecy
Program Administrator

Also, put that title in your email sig file, if you haven't already.

Finally, don't dress like a secretary. What that means depends on the school and the part of the country you live in, but something to keep in mind.

[waltpaul2]

I'm going to take a different and sure to be unpopular view here, but: get over it.

I've held positions of all "levels" on campus (including part-time custodian as an undergraduate, and in terms of professional positions, i was a residence hall director while working on my masters, and a program manager [full-time] while working on my doctorate. As a faculty member, I was an assistant/associate/full professor. I have served as vice president for student affairs, provost, and interim president. I currently hold the title of "John and Susie Jones Distinguished Professor of ZZZ and Assistant to the President").

Once, when I was vice president for student affairs, I gave a presentation to the Board of Trustees on our new residence halls. There was a trustee that introduced me to other new trustees for years as "The Residence Hall Manager." I thought it was one of the funniest things I'd ever heard. Did it change the respect my staff or the students on campus had for me? No. Did it change my $250,000 a year salary? No. It just sounded funny that here the "Residence Hall Manager" attended all the trustee's meetings.

In my current role, I get introduced as the "President's Assistant" all the time, and when folks find out I have a Ph.D., they usually grow tremendously uncomfortable that they've been calling me Walter, have asked me to make copies or get them a cup of tea at some point, or done something that they assume would be otherwise inappropriate for my "level" at the university. Of course my position isn't a clerical one, it's a policy management and implementation job. Do I care much whether people call me "Dr. WalterPaul2" or not? Not really. Do I mind getting someone tea when they stop by the presidents office? Why should I? I'm able to engender trust and build a relationship with people. I'm far more useful to them in a tangible way if I can answer a question about the president's schedule or get them warm tea when they're freezing than I would be telling them how important I am, or that I just put together a proposal for a $40 million new science building.

In every "level" of administration you'll run across people who get titles wrong, but don't forget that as administrators, there are two constituencies we serve on campus: STUDENTS (future [prospective], current, and past [alumni]) and FACULTY. We may be the institution's administrative backbone, but the faculty produce research and teach. We'd be dead without faculty.

The students pay tuition. If the faculty member doesn't recognize your level on the administrative hierarchy, it's not because he's disrespectful of you or doing it as an affront to program managers everywhere, he just doesn't care. He's a busy guy, in his own world of publishing and teaching, and calls you a secretary. It doesn't make you a secretary. Chances are, as a program administrator, you probably get paid more than a secretary and make higher-level decisions than a secretary, so it's just as funny as calling the VP for Student Affairs the "Residence Hall Manager."

I'm certainly not saying you don't deserve respect. We all do. Secretaries deserve as much respect as the president, but make sure that you're not needlessly distracting your energy from doing a great job for our real institutional stakeholders -- and otherwise getting upset -- over something that has no real bearing on your actual position, salary, title, role.

[drangie]

You have to stop this yourself, and it isn't that hard.  When someone refers to you as a secretary interrupt IMMEDIATELY and say, "Actually, I am not a secretary, I am the Program Administrator."  You won't have to do this for long.

If you go through your supervisor it only makes you look more insecure, and well, secretarial.

Ditto.

Ditto Ditto