The Gabelli School of Business launches a new PhD program for Business Administration (Image: Fordham University)

With strong business school competitors like Columbia University and New York University just a short subway ride from its Manhattan campus, Fordham University's Gabelli School of Business is bolstering its offerings by launching a new PhD program in Business Administration.

The terminal degree program is a smart move that will not only expand opportunities for current students and faculty, but attract high-caliber scholars from around the world. The full-time, research-intensive Gabelli School of Business PhD is aimed at students who see themselves as researchers or faculty members at universities and institutions around the world.

“These students will be able to develop papers alongside our faculty for journal submission. We will also, for the first time, have Fordham represented at doctoral colloquia at major conferences,” said Donna Rapaccioli, Dean of the Gabelli School of Business, at Fordham University.

“The education they receive at Fordham will kindle their careers as junior faculty, and as they move on to other universities to teach, Fordham-generated scholarship will begin to spread across the country and worldwide,” said Rapaccioli.

 

Future Educators

Fordham University is a private institution that was founded in 1841 and has several campuses in New York. The Lincoln Center home of Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business was just renovated for $70 million over two years. The four-storey structure opened its doors in late July this year in time to welcome the first cohort of PhD students in the Fall. The newly renovated Gabelli School of Business in the Lincoln Center offers students a gleaming innovation lab, spacious lecture halls, rock gardens and a trading room with rows of Bloomberg financial data terminals.

"The school's finance department has a strong reputation on Wall Street. I am interested in research activity and understanding the role and benefits of the capital markets," said S.R Pradhan, an student from Nepal who is enrolled in the Gabelli School’s PhD program.

"The intention of this program is to create research-oriented future educators — that resonates with me," said Pradhan. "When it comes to studying business, there’s no place like New York City. Life in the program is very social. There are lots of opportunities to join clubs and activities."

According to school data, international students make up 28 percent of the student body as the business school has a solid reputation in accounting and tax. Its finance department also has a strong reputation on Wall Street.

 

Academics

According to the school website, PhD students at the Gabelli School of Business will have to pass a series of exams and, of course, propose, write, and defend a dissertation. The program is structured around the school’s traditional academic strengths in finance and management.

The interdisciplinary doctoral program includes economic theory — which encompasses finance and accounting — and contemporary studies in management, marketing, information systems, and media theory. Accepted students will have to pick one of two interdisciplinary curriculum tracks:

Capital Markets: This track combines the traditional aspects of economic theory with the quantitative rigor of finance and accounting.

Strategy and Decision-Making:This track includes all aspects of the contemporary study of decision-making with theories of management, marketing, information systems, business ethics, business media, and operations.

Career and Placement

In recent years, the school has enhanced career services and increased its engagement with alumni. According to the school website, Gabelli School PhD students will receive "extensive preparation" before they step into the academic job market. With an eye on post-program placements, the school will support students to attend professional conferences and seminars, paper presentations and article publications so that they have a large professional network in place long before graduation.

 

Uttara Choudhury is a writer for Forbes India and The Wire. In 1997, she went on the British Chevening Scholarship to study Journalism in the University of Westminster, in London.

Tags: US, New York, Fordham University, Gabelli School of Business, business administration, PhD, MBA, business studies