The Wayne State University School of Business Administration is introducing a Ph.D. program in the fall of 2007. The university’s Board of Governors approved the action at its January meeting. The business school will launch three Ph.D. tracks with a global focus in each – finance, management, and marketing. The tracks will be instituted in successive years.

Over the past 10 years, the School of Business Administration has hired additional research-oriented faculty and increased research productivity with a view toward starting a doctoral program. WSU Provost Nancy Barrett said, “I think the business school is more ready for the doctoral program than they were a decade ago.”

The objective of the new program is to prepare students to become faculty members at major research universities. The program is research based and designed to ground students in quantitative research skills so they can transition into discipline-based research projects with faculty as soon as possible.

Richard Gabrys, dean of the School of Business Administration, said, “The launch of our Ph.D. program is long overdue. Until now, we were one of a small number of business schools within nationally ranked doctoral-research institutions without a Ph.D. program. The new program at Wayne State can help meet the increasing need for qualified, rigorously trained faculty.”

Nationally, the number of business Ph.D.s awarded has declined to its lowest level since 1987. For students, the shortfall means larger classes, among other consequences. For universities, the competition for faculty with doctoral degrees drives up the cost of salaries, summer supplements, and other benefits, including research support.

AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business – estimates a shortage of 1,100 Ph.D.s in the U.S. this year, increasing to 2,400 by 2012. AACSB International is the accrediting agency for bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting. The Wayne State University School of Business Administration is accredited by AACSB International.