____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
combinatorist wrote:
I'm a math professor, and I agree with this. A student is always better off calling a professor by "Dr. Lastname" or "Prof. Lastname" until the professor stops and corrects them. You will not offend anyone by acting too formal. If the professor stops you and asks you to call you by his/her first name, then by all means it is OK. But I've seen some professors get a little offended if you make the mistake in the other direction.
I want to be called "Dr. Lastname." It really grinds me when students call me by just my last name though. I'd prefer they call me my first name then to just call me by my lastname. I don't know what it is, but it is really annoying. I just feel it's like a boss coming up to you at your desk and saying "Johnson, where are those TPS reports?"
That said, I think it's always a good thing the first day of class to tell the students how you prefer to be addressed.
I graduated 2 years ago, and I still address my former professors as "Dr. X." A few have corrected me! So now I call them by their first name.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I don't believe you are a professor. Few professors graduated '2 years ago'.