Candidate Profile

Senior executives who:

• Hold an MBA or post-baccalaureate degree
• Work full-time
• Will use the knowledge acquired to address problems and issues in contemporary business
• Seek to advance professional career; consulting; or attain a clinical faculty position

10-20 years of management experience.

Students with limited work experience who:

• May or may not hold a post-baccalaureate degree
• Typically enroll as full-time students
• Seek to position themselves for research careers in academia for tenure-track positions or in industry

Average age 25-30 years old.

5-10 years of work experience.

Motivation

Contribution to practice. Research topics come from issues faced in practice and lead to new practice/policy.

Contribution to theory and/or applied research. Research topics come from unanswered questions in the discipline and lead to advancements in the body of knowledge.

Objective

To develop practitioner researchers

To develop academic researchers for positions in academia, industry or government

Program Structure

Multiple residencies per semester

Mostly full-time students, but some part-time students accepted

Curriculum

• Interdisciplinary with a focus on general management and business issues
• Apply quantitative or qualitative research methods to contemporary business problems

• Specialized studies, generally within a single, specific business discipline
• Heavy emphasis on research methodology and its application to develop new theories

Time horizon

Set at outset. Time to completion is crucial and predetermined.

Students with a master's degree should finish in 4 – 5 years. Part-time students take longer.

Staffing

Faculty are mentors/research partners/SMEs; students draw on work experiences and firm data.

Faculty have dominant role re program curriculum and research agenda.

Funding

Company- and student-funded.

Stipend for graduate assistantship, plus tuition waiver for full-time students.

Accreditation

SA (Scholarly Academic) and PA (Practice Academic) qualified faculty status per AACSB standards.

Focus on SA (Scholarly Academic) faculty status qualification.