April's Star Spotlight! The PhD Project

The PhD Project’s mission is to increase the diversity of corporate America by increasing the diversity of business school faculty. We attract African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans to business Ph.D. programs, and provide a network of peer support on their journey to becoming professors. As faculty, they serve as role models attracting and mentoring minority students while improving the preparation of all students for our diverse workplace and society.

Bernie Milano, President of The PhD Project with newly capped professors at The PhD Project 2010 Annual conference in Chicago

The overall goal is to diversify corporate America through the creation of minority business professors who serve as role models and mentors in U.S. business schools. Our vision is to continually create the next generation of minority business leaders.  We address this systemically by encouraging successful minorities to  return to academia as business professors—to serve as role models and mentors for future minority business leaders.

When The PhD Project was founded in 1994, minorities weren’t pursuing careers as business professors. Research showed that qualified minorities didn’t even consider academia as an option. The PhD Project markets this career path  to successful minority men and women through direct marketing, advertising and public relations and invites them to apply to an annual conference that will—in two days--give them all they need to make an informed decision to enter a doctoral program, information that would take them months to compile on their own. All expenses are paid to attend the conference by The PhD Project.

Once enrolled in a doctoral program, students become members of one of the five Minority Doctoral Students Associations (one for each discipline—Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Management and Marketing).  They meet once a year (again, all expenses paid by The PhD Project) for peer and mentoring support—which is extremely important for people who might be the only minorities in their doctoral program.  The dropout rate for PhD Project participants is only ten  percent—much smaller than the over thirty-three percent rate for all doctoral students.  And 99% of our graduates are in academic careers as compared to the national average for new Ph.D. graduates, as reported by AACSB, of 60%.

“Since The PhD Project began in 1994, the number of minority business professors in U.S. business schools has more than tripled – from 294 to 1,075 today, and with another 366 minority doctoral students in the pipeline this number is growing each and every day,”  states Marie Zara, Development Manager, “ I believe the impact of our program is best expressed in the following quotes from our members.”

“I became very involved in The PhD Project Doctoral Students Association (DSA) once I entered my program. It helped me immensely. I served as secretary, vice president and president. This tremendous support system offered by the DSA family made it much easier to cope with strenuous work load and tasks given. Thanks to the DSA, I was prepared a little more than other classmates, who weren’t members, for the work ahead of us.”

DR. RENÉE PRATT

Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems

Washington and Lee University

“The PhD Project has been amazing in very specific ways. The preparation for a doctoral program it provides is spot on. They tell you what to look for, what to expect. Specific guidance for every stage of the process, right through how to go on the job market, how to evaluate schools and opportunities.  And the informal network is as important as the formal. “

DR. DAVID LANIER MAJOR
Assistant Professor of Management
Indiana University

The PhD Project is funded by the following top corporations, universities, professional and academic organizations: KPMG Foundation · Graduate Management Admission Council · Citi Foundation · AACSB International · 235 Participating Universities · AICPA Foundation · DiversityInc  ·  JP Morgan Chase Foundation  · The Goldman Sachs Group ·The Merck Company Foundation  ·  Microsoft Corporation  · Dixon Hughes PLLC · Wal-Mart Stores, Inc · ACT-1 Group · AT&T · Dow Chemical Company · John Deere Foundation  · Rockwell Collins · California State University System · CIGNA · American Express · ADP · American Marketing Association · Motorola Foundation · The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago · The Federal Reserve Bank of New York · Western Union Foundation · Corporate Executive Board