Management

PhD in Business Administration

The PhD Business Administration program will be accepting applications for Fall 2024. We will begin reviewing applications on December 1, 2023. The final deadline for applications is January 31, 2024.

Preparing students for successful academic careers at research-intensive universities.

We have a highly collaborative faculty and maintain a small doctoral program in order to ensure significant interactions between our students and faculty. Our program prepares graduates to be marketable for tenure-track positions in reputable research institutions as well as for long-term career success (recent alumni have published in outlets such as the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Annals, and Human Resource Management).

Our doctoral students receive a competitive stipend and a full tuition waiver for up to five years. We also provide generous resources for regular attendance at academic conferences. Students in our doctoral program typically do not teach until their third year and then only once per academic year in order to gain marketable teaching experience while focusing on coursework and research.


Admission Guidelines

To be considered for the PhD in Business Administration Concentration in Management, the applicant must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate School and Gatton College of Business and Economics.

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Degree Requirements

To obtain a PhD, doctoral students must

  • complete all prerequisite coursework,
  • complete all PhD coursework (minimum of 40 hours) while maintaining a minimum GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0 on all graduate work attempted at UK,
  • pass the qualifying examination in the major area,
  • develop and orally defend a dissertation proposal,
  • complete a dissertation based on the approved proposal, and
  • successfully defend the dissertation in an oral presentation.

The minimum coursework required is 40 hours. Exceptions to the 40-hour program may be made for students who have taken courses above a master's degree, with the advice of the student's advisory committee and DGS approval.

The program is designed to provide specialization study beyond the master's level. All students are expected to have at least minimal training in the common body of knowledge in the functional areas of business.


Contact Us

If you are interested in challenging yourself intellectually and becoming a professor in a major research university,contact us to get more information about applying to our PhD program in Management. Contact Dan Halgin if you have questions or would like to discuss the program in greater depth.

Dan Halgin
Associate Professor of Management
Department of Management
Gatton College of Business and Economics
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0034

For questions about the graduate school application process contact:

Jeannie Graves
Asst. Director for Graduate Programs
859.257.7635