Approved by: Graduate Council
Implementation Date: Spring 2017
Note: Deletions are strikethroughs. Insertions are underlined.
Catalog Copy
Ph.D. In Business Administration
Website
phd-business.uncc.edu
Graduate Program Coordinator
Dr. David Mauer
Graduate Faculty
Economics
Dr. Stephen Billings, Associate Professor
Dr. Hwan Lin, Associate Professor
Dr. Rob Roy McGregor, Professor
Dr. Dmitry Shapiro, Associate Professor
Dr. Jennifer Troyer, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs and Professor
Dr. Artie Zillante, Department Chair and Associate Professor
Finance
Dr. Lloyd Blenman, Professor
Dr. Richard Buttimer, Senior Associate Dean and Professor
Dr. I-Hsuan Ethan Chiang, Assistant Professor
Dr. Steven Clark, Associate Professor
Dr. Tao-Hsien Dolly King, Department Chair and Rush S. Dickson Professor and Professor
Dr. Christopher M. Kirby, Professor
Dr. David Mauer, Terrence E. Hemby, Sr. Distinguished Professor in Financial Services
Dr. Faith Neale, Associate Professor
Dr. Steven Ott, Dean of the Belk College and John Crosland Sr. Distinguished Professor of Real Estate
Dr. Weidong Tian, Distinguished Scholar in Risk Management and Insurance and Professor
Dr. Kiplan Womack, Assistant Professor
Dr. Yilei Zhang, Assistant Professor
Mathematics and Statistics
Dr. Jaya Bishwal, Associate Professor
Dr. Adriana Ocejo Monge, Assistant Professor
Dr. Mingxin Xu, Associate Professor
The Ph.D. in Business Administration is a research-oriented program designed to prepare graduates for teaching and research careers in academia. The program includes core courses covering all business specialties combined with an in-depth study in both theoretical and empirical aspects of the major and minor field. Students also receive training in pedagogy. Students are expected to demonstrate mastery of the existing body of knowledge in their major field and to develop new knowledge through original independent research. With the educational background provided by the program, graduates are qualified for tenure-track professor positions at both national and international research and teaching universities and other educational institutions.
Additional Admission Requirements
All applicants seeking admission into the Ph.D. in Business Administration must fulfill the University’s general requirements for graduate admission at the Ph.D. level. Additional requirements for admission into the program are listed below.
- A baccalaureate or master’s degree in Business, Economics, or a related field with a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.5 (A=4.0) overall. In the case a candidate presents a master’s degree at application, a minimum graduate GPA of 3.25 (A=4.0) on all graduate coursework is required.
- A GMAT score of at least 650 or GRE scores with scores on the quantitative section of at least 700 and on the verbal section of at least 500.
- For non-native speakers of English that do not hold degrees from a US university, a score of 220 on the computer-based TOEFL, a score of 557 on the paper-based TOEFL, or 85% on the MELAB.
- Non-native speakers of English may be required, at the discretion of the Graduate School or the Program Director for the Ph.D. in Business Administration, to enroll in English as a Second Language (ESL) courses at the English Language Training Institute.
- Three positive letters of recommendation, one of which must be from a former professor.
- A Statement of Purpose from the applicant explaining why they wish to pursue a Ph.D. in Business Administration and why they wish to study the specific area to which they are applying.
- To ensure their preparation for doctoral coursework, students may be required to take additional undergraduate or graduate courses, as determined by the Ph.D. in Business Administration Program Committee and the Program Director. Such courses will be specified at the time of admission into the program and may include courses in finance, economics, accounting, marketing, management, operations management, management information systems, mathematics, or statistics.
Students are admitted to the program by the Dean of the Graduate School based on the recommendation of the Belk College of Business Doctoral Program Director, in consultation with the Belk College of Business Doctoral Program Committee. Recommendations are based on the assessments of the Program Director and the Program Committee of the candidate’s ability to complete the program, as supported by the application materials. The Program Director, in consultation with the Program Committee, may waive certain requirements if they judge the candidate to be capable of completing the program. If there are more candidates than can be accommodated, candidates are recommended in order of their perceived ability, promise of success, and suitability to the program.
Degree Requirements
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration is awarded for completion of scholarly research that advances knowledge in the field of research. Evidence of this is demonstrated by a successful dissertation defense. Additionally, recipients of this degree must demonstrate mastery of the body of knowledge within their major field and potential for success in future teaching and research.
Students that enter the program must work with the Program Director to develop a Plan of Study during their first two semesters in the program. This Plan of Study will determine the exact coursework that the student must meet in order to be eligible to take the Qualifying Examination. The Plan of Study must meet all Graduate School and Belk College of Business requirements. The Graduate School requires that any student earning a Ph.D. must complete at least 72 post-baccalaureate semester-hours, including at least 18 hours of dissertation credit. Some of these graduate credit hours may include courses taken while enrolled in other graduate programs. It is a Belk College of Business requirement that any program of study within the Ph.D. in Business Administration must contain at least 42 semester-hours of doctoral coursework, regardless of other graduate hours that the student may have previously earned. These 42 semester hours are in addition to the minimum 18 hours of dissertation credit that the Graduate School requires. The Plan of Study must contain a minimum of 18 hours in the major field, a minimum of 15 hours in the minor field, and a minimum of 9 hours in research-support courses.
In addition to the general requirements above, if a student enters the program with only a Bachelor’s degree, the Plan of Study must include an additional 30 hours of coursework. This coursework must be taken at the graduate level and will generally include courses that are part of the Master of Accountancy, Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Economics, or Master of Science in Mathematical Finance programs. These 30 hours of additional coursework are subject to the approval of the Program Director.
To ensure that all students are ready for doctoral courses in Business Administration, the program has two distinct sets of prerequisites. First, students entering the program must either demonstrate or attain proficiency in each of the business specialties. Second, students must also demonstrate or attain mathematical proficiency. Students entering the program will be evaluated for these proficiencies by the Program Director. If a student is found to be deficient then the Plan of Study must include appropriate courses, as determined by the Program Director, from the Business Core and Mathematical prerequisites listed below. These courses are in addition to the major, minor, and research support courses.
Business Core
To ensure their preparation for doctoral level coursework in all business specialties, students most demonstrate proficiency in the Business Core. Students may satisfy this requirement either by taking the following courses or by having previously taken equivalent courses:
MBAD 6152 Financial Management (3)
MBAD 6171 Marketing Management (3)
MBAD 6194 Global Strategic Management (3)
Students who lack sufficient preparation in accounting, economics, or information systems may, at the discretion of the Program Director, be required to complete one or more 5000-level business courses in these disciplines. For the 6000-level courses listed above, only graduate courses may count as equivalent courses. However, students may, at the discretion of the Program Director, be permitted to take other 6000-level or higher-level courses in place of those listed above if the student’s background indicates that this would benefit the student.
Mathematics Prerequisites
The only major available to students enrolled in the Ph.D. in Business Administration program is finance, and all finance students must minor in economics. Finance and economics are mathematically intensive fields. To ensure that students are prepared for doctoral level coursework they are required to have had, at the graduate or undergraduate level, the equivalent of the following courses:
MATH 1241 Calculus I (3)
MATH 1242 Calculus II (3)
MATH 2164 Linear Algebra (3)
MATH 2241 Calculus III (3)
MATH 3122/3123 Probability & Statistics (3)
Students lacking these mathematics courses will generally be allowed to take those courses at either the graduate or undergraduate level. At the Program Director’s discretion, a student may be permitted to take combined courses to meet multiple prerequisites.
Although unlikely, it is possible that a student may enter the program without having taken a specific prerequisite or business core course but has, nevertheless, acquired the same skill and technical abilities that the course would convey. In such cases, the Program Director may waive the course.
Students who lack strong computer programming skills may be advised to take programming courses offered by the College of Computing and Informatics. Specifically, the Program Director may advise a student to take ITCS 1212 (Introduction to Computer Science) or other similar courses after reviewing the student’s background and prior programming experience.
Finance Major Courses
The Plan of Study for the finance major must consist of a minimum of six courses in finance. Normally these courses are:
BPHD 8200 Financial Economic Theory (3)
BPHD 8210 Investments and Portfolio Theory (3)
BPHD 8220 Financial Economic Theory II (3)
BPHD 8230 Theory of Corporate Finance (3)
BPHD 8240 Derivatives (3)
BPHD 8650 Advanced Seminar in Finance (3)
Two of these courses, BPHD 8200 and BPHD 8240, are cross-listed with courses that are part of the Master of Science in Economics and the Master of Science in Mathematical Finance programs. Ph.D. students in these cross-listed courses will be required to complete the master’s level requirements of the course and in addition, will be required to take separate exams, prepare a research paper, and complete additional readings. Students that have taken those equivalent courses may, at the discretion of the Program Director, substitute additional sections of BPHD 8650 on their Plan of Study for those courses. In addition, the Program Director may require a student to list BPHD 8650 more than once in their Plan of Study as topics change.
Economics Minor Courses
The Plan of Study for an economics minor must consist of five courses in economics. These courses are:
BPHD 8100 Microeconomic Theory I (3)
BPHD 8110 Microeconomic Theory II (3)
BPHD 8120 Econometrics I (3)
BPHD 8130 Econometrics II (3)
BPHD 8140 Econometrics III (3)
Exceptions to the economics minor courses may only be made with the permission of the Ph.D. Program Director.
Research Support Courses
The Ph.D. in Business Administration requires that students have at least nine hours of research support courses in their Plan of Study. For the finance major, these research support courses must come from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics or Department of Economics. Students are required to choose three courses from the following:
MATH 6206 Stochastic Calculus for Finance II (3)
MATH 8203 Stochastic Calculus for Finance (3)
MATH 8204 Numerical Methods for Financial Derivatives (3)
ECON 6257 Applied Computational Economics (3)
MATH 6205 Financial Computing (3)
Some of the research support courses are cross-listed with courses used in the Master of Mathematical Finance program. Students that have taken those equivalent courses may, at the discretion of the Program Director, take other mathematics, statistics, economics, finance or related courses in place of the courses specified above.
In addition to the 60 credit hours of required coursework indicated above, students are required to complete 12 elective credit hours from the following: (1) Additional course offering(s) of BPHD 8650 Advanced Seminar in Finance with different topics, (2) Additional Research Support Courses, and/or (3) Additional Dissertation Credits. As an exception, a student may, at the discretion of the Program Director, be permitted to use a course taken while enrolled in another graduate program to count toward the elective credits. Note that the 60 required credit hours consist of 18 hours of Finance Major Courses, 15 hours of Economics Minor Courses, 9 hours of Research Support Courses, and 18 hours of Dissertation Credits.”
Dissertation Credits
Students are required to complete at least 18 hours of dissertation credits by taking BPHD 8999 Doctoral Dissertation Research.
Grades
A student is expected to earn an A or B in all courses included in the program of study and must have at least a 3.0 GPA to graduate. The dissertation is graded on a Pass/Unsatisfactory basis and, therefore, will not be included in the cumulative average. An accumulation of more than two marginal (C) grades will result in suspension of the student’s enrollment in the program. If a student earns a grade of U in any course, their enrollment will be suspended and the student cannot take further coursework without being readmitted to the program. Readmission to the program requires approval of the Dean of the Graduate School upon the recommendation of the Program Director.