As both a new student and a new employee at Calvin College, I had to put a lot of new names with faces. And, along with the new names came the new titles such as Doctor, Professor, Dean, etc.  One new name/face was Dean Vander.

Now, Dean Vander always wore slacks and a sport coat and just looked like an academic.  And, when ever I would meet him on the campus, I would address him as Dean Vander. Finally, one day he said to just call him Dean. That is when it dawned on me that “Dean” was his first name and not his title.

Shortly after that, I started addressing everyone by their first name, everyone except the president of the college. He was old and never smiled. I always addressed him as “President”.