Time Limits
All work must be completed within eight years of the beginning of the doctoral study, or, if the student entered with a master’s degree in the same or a closely related field, the doctorate must be completed within seven years.
The general examination must be passed within five years of the beginning of doctoral study, or within four years if the student entered with a master’s degree in the same or closely-related field.
Failure to complete the work within the periods specified or failure to maintain continuous registration will require reevaluation of the student’s entire program and may result in a notice of termination. An extension of a student’s terminal date is considered only when there is substantial evidence that the student has attempted to make regular and consistent progress toward completion of degree requirements. A written recommendation to extend the terminal date must bear the signature of the student's major advisor, and it must be submitted in a timely manner to the Graduate School. Approval is granted by the Dean. Third requests for extension are rare.
Major Advisor and Advisory Committee
School of Business doctoral students will usually have two major advisors during the Ph.D. Program: an initial major advisor and a dissertation major advisor. Each student is assigned to an initial major advisor, who provides the student with advice regarding course work, other requirements and issues related to the Ph.D. Program. The initial major advisor is usually the departmental Ph.D. Coordinator. Ordinarily, the initial major advisor works with the student through the course-work stage of the Ph.D. Program or until the student has passed the General Examination.
The student, in consultation with the major advisor, should form an advisory committee as soon as possible in the first semester of the doctoral program. In addition to the major advisor, the committee should have at least two associate advisors. The major advisor and at least one associate advisor shall be members of the University Graduate Faculty authorized to advise doctoral students in the student’s area of concentration.
As soon as the student begins to formulate specific plans for dissertation research, he or she should select a dissertation major advisor and associate advisors who are compatible with those research plans. Since consistency of direction is very important in doctoral studies, a durable relationship between the student and dissertation advisor should be formed as soon as possible. If circumstances warrant it, the initial major advisor may also be selected as the dissertation major advisor. For more details about the Advisory System, procedures for making changes in the student’s advisory committee, etc. see the Graduate Catalog.
Departmental Research Workshops/Colloquia
Doctoral students are expected to regularly attend and fully participate in research workshops and colloquia sponsored by the department in their areas of concentration. These workshops and colloquia are an integral part of the scholarly activity in the department and are a particularly important part of the student’s experience in the Ph.D. program. Faculty will evaluate the doctoral student’s attendance and participation in these workshops and colloquia as part of the annual review, and poor performance may be grounds for dismissing a student from the Ph.D. program.
Foreign Language/Related or Supporting Area of Study
The Graduate School requires that all doctoral students have a competent reading knowledge of at least one foreign language appropriate to the general area of study or at least six credits of advanced work in a related or supporting area (unless faculty in a particular field of study have voted to require neither).
If a related or supporting are is required, the courses chosen must comprise a coherent of advanced work outside the major field of study and they should be taken outside the department in which the work of the major field is offered. The courses must be approved by the advisory committee as part of the plan of study. For more details on this requirement, see the relevant section in the Graduate Catalog.
Posting of Vita
Building an academic vita while completing doctoral program requirements enhances a student's marketability. The vita is an important tool for summarizing a student's accomplishments to date and communicating these accomplishments to others in the school and profession. At a minimum, the vita includes the student's name and contact information, education (degrees obtained and dates, current status in the doctoral program), and work experience. In addition, it includes all of the following that apply: publications (journal articles and book chapters), conference proceedings and presentations, manuscripts under review by journal or conference, research in progress, grants, honors (awards, scholarships, and fellowships), teaching experience (courses taught and dates), professional service (e.g., membership in professional associations, reviewer for a conference, session chair or discussant at a conference, ad-hoc reviewer for a journal), and other information about professional accomplishments that the student wishes to include. Students are expected to post their vita on their web page on the School of Business web site throughout their program and to update it regularly.
Course Work
All doctoral students must complete course work that spans four broad categories: Orientation, Research Methods, Major Area of Concentration, and Supporting Courses.
For details of minimum course credits, refer to the Ph.D. program web pages for individual concentrations of Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing, and Operations and Information Management. Students that have not previously taken foundation courses in Accounting, Business Policy, Finance, Management, and Marketing, are required to take these courses as a part of their doctoral program.
At least 15 credits of GRAD 495 (Dissertation Research) are required. This represents the research effort the student devotes to the dissertation.
Teacher Development Policy
What is the purpose of the policy?
The mission of the School of Business PhD Program is to prepare students to conduct high quality, state-of-the-art research and to assume faculty positions at leading universities. For this mission to be achieved, students need to be developed as teacher-scholars, i.e., they need to be ready to perform well as teachers as well as scholars by the time they graduate. The purpose of this policy is to address the teaching component of the mission.
Having teaching experience, and performing well as teachers, enhances students’ employability at leading universities once they graduate. Teaching courses at multiple levels (undergraduate and MBA) during their program also enhances their employability. Further, the university expects that doctoral students who receive a graduate assistantship with tuition waiver that is funded by tuition funds from other students to provide teaching-related services on a regular basis. Thus, performing teaching-related activities during their doctoral program is a requirement, not an option, for students who receive an assistantship. In this policy, we provide guidelines for how students may meet this requirement and be developed as teachers along the way.
When should students be expected to teach, and when not?
To jump-start their development as scholars, students should not be assigned courses as the instructor of record (i.e., to teach on their own with full responsibility for course delivery) during their first year in the doctoral program. However, first-year students may be assigned to assist faculty in the delivery of courses in which the faculty member is the instructor of record as part of their assistantship responsibilities.
Students may be assigned courses as the instructor of record beginning in their second year in the program.
Special circumstances arise that will call for decisions about teaching activities tailored to the circumstances. For example, students may transfer into the program as second-year students or later; as a general principle, such students should not be expected to teach courses as the instructor of record during their first semester in residence at UConn. Also, students may enter the program in the spring semester; as a general principle, such students should not be expected to teach courses as the instructor of record during their first two semesters in the program (spring and fall). The teaching load for doctoral students in special circumstances such as these will be decided on an individual basis.
How much should students be expected to teach?
Teaching a course as the instructor of record during a semester is ordinarily considered the equivalent of meeting the requirements of a half-time graduate assistantship.
In their second year and thereafter, students who receive a full graduate assistantship with tuition waiver that is funded by the university are expected to perform teaching-related activities that contribute to their development as teachers over the course of their doctoral program. These activities may include teaching a course as the instructor of record or aiding in the teaching of a course in which a faculty member is the instructor of record (e.g., by grading, preparation of course materials, etc.). However, students should not be expected to be full-time teachers to meet requirements of their assistantship, because this would hinder their development as scholars during the program.
Students should not be expected to teach summer courses, which do not fall within the academic year covered by assistantships. However, students may wish to teach in the summer for additional compensation. If they do so, to promote their working on their research during summers and not as full-time teachers, students should not be assigned to teach more than one course during a given summer, including all summer sessions.
If a student’s assistantship is funded by a research grant from a non-university source, the obligation for the student to provide teaching-related services to meet the university requirement is reduced (if partially funded) or removed (if fully funded). In such cases, the university should be reimbursed for the cost of the student’s being relieved of teaching responsibilities from grant funds. However, the student still needs to be developed as a teacher.
What levels of courses should students teach?
Before they pass the general exam, students may only be assigned to teach undergraduate courses as the instructor of record.
After they pass the general exam, it is desirable for students to have some exposure to the teaching of MBA students (full-time or part-time) to enhance their teaching portfolio before they seek a faculty position. Although not required, MBA teaching by doctoral students, when consistent with departmental teaching needs, is encouraged to enhance their development as teachers.
How should students be developed as teachers other than by having them teach?
Students’ performance and development as teachers will be reviewed as part of their annual performance evaluation within their concentration.
To provide an additional incentive for students to perform well as teachers, each concentration will give an annual (name of concentration) PhD Student Outstanding Teaching Award. Further, the BUS PhD Program will give an annual BUS PhD Outstanding Teaching Award chosen from the award-winners for the five concentrations.
Students are encouraged to participate in university-wide programs that address teaching issues.
Each concentration is encouraged to offer occasional brown-bag seminars on teaching issues.
Where does authority for enforcing this policy reside?
Department heads have the responsibility for determining what courses need to be taught and for ensuring that assignments of doctoral students to teach these courses are in accordance with this policy.
The PhD Program Director has the responsibility, in consultation with department heads, to ensure that teaching responsibilities for all students who receive a graduate assistantship with tuition waiver have been met in a way that promotes their development as both teachers and scholars.
Final authority for enforcing this policy resides with the PhD Program Director.