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I'm currently finalizing my applications for philosophy PhD programs, and have a question about how to specify my letter writers' titles on my application.

Both programs to which I'm applying have a character limit that prevents me from listing my letter writers' titles in full. All of my referees hold endowed chairs at my alma mater, and two out of the three are emeritus, so their titles are quite long. To complicate matters further, all my referees are professors of philosophy, but their endowed chairs are in "humanities," so it feels sketchy to abbreviate to "[name of chair] professor of philosophy."

Is it necessary/beneficial to include endowed chairs in my referees' titles? Is it necessary to include their emeritus status? Or, should I simply shorten to "Professor of Philosophy"... Any advice appreciated!

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    Personally, as a member of admissions committee, I would not care. But maybe others do. I do not think you will find any general statistics on this. Commented yesterday

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Given the character limit, they are probably expecting titles like "Associate Professor" and "Professor", not "Albert Einstein Chaired Professor of Underwater Basketweaving, Emeritus". "Professor Emeritus" is also reasonable as a title when appropriate.

It seems strange to me to try to include all these things in designating who is writing your letters. Letter writers can include their credentials in their own letters, but probably no one outside their institution knows anything about any particular endowed chairs: some may be a great honor, but others don't really mean much and the chair is more to honor the person it is named after, not the person holding it. What matters is whether the letter writers know you and are qualified to assess whether you're likely to be successful in a graduate program.

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    +1, but if they're asking for titles, I would distinguish between "Professor" and "Professor Emeritus". If necessary, abbreviate: "Prof. Emer." I agree it's not necessary to include their field (philosophy, etc) and certainly not the name of their endowed chair. Commented yesterday
  • @NateEldredge Agreed, I'll edit that into my answer. Commented yesterday
  • Awesome, this is super helpful. Thanks so much! Commented yesterday

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