PhD Program At A Glance

Lawrence A. Gordon, Ernst & Young Alumni Professor of Managerial Accounting and director of the PhD program at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, gives an overview of the Smith School’s PhD program.

“We have a global and very diverse group of PhD students. Right now there are 113 students who represent 22 countries; about 58 percent are international and about 53 percent are women. The doctoral program is competitive with the world’s top business schools. We attract excellent students in every discipline and are averaging approximately 35 applications for every student admitted.

“The academic program is extremely rigorous, particularly because of the quantitative nature of the research that underlies most disciplines here at Smith.

“One of the benefits of our program is the tremendous amount of interaction students have with faculty. It is an informal environment; students spend a lot of time working with faculty one-on-one, and there is a significant amount of joint research going on. We also encourage and support cross-functional research—Nerissa Brown’s dissertation, for example, is co-chaired by me and Russ Wermers, an associate professor in the finance department. 

“Graduates of the doctoral program are first-class researchers, but they also have a keen understanding for and appreciation of the importance of teaching. They understand that their role is to both expand the knowledge base and communicate that knowledge to future business leaders.

“Over the past five years, roughly 99 percent of Smith’s PhD students have been successfully placed directly after they graduate—about 80 percent as tenure track assistant professors at an accredited university, and the rest as researchers in either private or government organizations.” ---- Lawrence A. Gordon.