Program Sequence
Earn a Doctorate in Five Years
Below is typical sequence of courses and activities you complete to advance through the program. All doctoral seminars are delivered in a blended learning format in which students attend class sessions on five Fridays of the semester and participate continuously in weekly online discussion forums. On Doctoral Fridays, one course is conducted from 8:00 a.m. to noon and another from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Be sure to read the notes referred to in parentheses for each course
Year One
Fall
- DPS 805 Doctoral Foundation Seminar in Management (1)
- DPS 870 Explorations in Business Research (1)
- Elective (2)
Spring
- DPS 820 Doctoral Foundation Seminar in Finance and Economics (1)
- DPS 840 Doctoral Foundation Seminar in Marketing (4)
- Elective (2)
Year Two
Fall
- DPS 875 Regression Analysis (1, 3)
- DPS 881 Publishing Tutorial 1 (3)
Spring
- DPS 876 Selected Topics in Multivariate Analysis (1, 3)
- DPS 882 Publishing Tutorial 2 (4)
- Elective
Year Three
Fall
- DPS 872 Research Design and Measurement (1)
- Concentration Seminar: (5)
- FIN 821 Corporate Finance or
- MAR 831 Consumer Research or
- MGT 835 Organization Behavior
Spring
- DPS 830 Doctoral Foundation Seminar in Cross Cultural Management (1)
- Concentration Seminar: (5)
- FIN 822 Capital Markets or
- MAR 832 Marketing Management or
- MGT 836 Strategic Management
Year Four
Fall
- DPS 890 Dissertation Seminar 1 (6)
- Candidate passes doctoral comprehensive examination
- Doctoral Program appoints a dissertation committee
Spring
- DPS 891 Dissertation Seminar 2 (6)
- Candidate presents dissertation proposal to committee for approval
Year Five
Fall
- DPS 892 Dissertation Seminar 3 (6)
- Candidate collects and analyzes empirical data
Spring
- DPS 893 Dissertation Seminar 3 (6)
- Candidate completes and defends dissertation
Notes
- All candidates register for all foundation and research seminars. Candidates complete these courses in sequence with their entering cohort. The cohort provides a peer support group as candidates advance through the program. (Candidates are only admitted in the autumn semesters.)
- Electives are three advanced MBA courses in the candidate's concentration approved by a concentration advisor. Although candidates may take electives in any of their first six semesters, they are encouraged to complete them as early as possible in the program. Most electives are scheduled either in an online format or in class sessions that meet for 2 hours and 45 minutes one night per week for 14 weeks. They are not available in the blended learning format of the doctoral seminars. The doctoral program may approve a maximum of six credits of electives for completion at another AACSB accredited business school.
- DPS 875 and DPS 876 assume the knowledge and skill usually acquired in an introductory graduate statistics course. Students who have not completed a statistics course within 5 years prior to admission must complete a course approved by the Doctoral Program during the first year of their doctoral studies.
- Publishing tutorials do not require scheduled meetings. They are 3 credits each earned under the supervision of a faculty member. See curriculum webpage for more details.
- Candidates usually complete two concentration seminars during the third year of the program. Since some concentration seminars are scheduled in alternating years, some candidates must complete the two-semester publishing tutorial sequence in the academic year when their concentration seminars are not offered.
- Dissertation seminars do not require scheduled meetings. They are 3 credits each earned while designing, proposing, completing, and defending a dissertation under the supervision of a faculty committee.