Diversifying Business

 

The PhD Project enters its second decade providing opportunities

While the business world has trumpeted the benefits of diversity for some time, business schools across the United States have struggled to find quali-fied minority Ph.D. candidates to adequately mirror their student pop-ulations. The PhD Project is helping to educate minorities, educational institutions and corporations so the mistakes of the past can’t be used as excuses for future failures.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, The PhD Project was created to address the under-representation of African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans among business school faculty. By diversifying the faculty, The PhD Project: 1) encourages more minorities to pursue business degrees; 2) improves the performance and completion rate of those students by providing role models and more natural mentors; and 3) better prepares all business students for today’s multicultural society and work environment.

The results have been remarkable, given the woefully inadequate minority representation in 1994. At that time, only 294 minority business professors were working on college campuses in the United States. As of March 2004, there were 686 minority business professors – an increase of 130 percent. Just as important, there are 422 more minorities currently enrolled in business doctoral programs who will take a place at the front of the classroom in the next few years. With the continuing guidance of The PhD Project, these numbers will continue to grow.

“We are proud of what we have achieved through The PhD Project in only 10 years,” said Bernard J. Milano, founder of the Project and President of the KPMG Foundation (the creator and lead sponsor of the program).

“The 294 professors (in 1994) were produced over four decades,” said Milano, who also serves on the BGS Board of Governors. “We have more than doubled that number in just one decade.”

At The PhD Project Conference in Chicago in November 2003, Milano compared the lack of minority representation at the front of business school classrooms to institutional racism. He said it was human nature for individuals (in this case white faculty members) to mentor and assist those that share a similar background, and this left many minorities “on the outside looking in.” Milano said the recent actions of business schools show that significant progress is being made.

“By the evidence of the 78 schools (with doctoral programs) that are here, and with the 67 schools that do not have doctoral programs that are providing funding to us to help run this program, higher education is clearly a hand-in-glove partner to what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “We’re really proud of that.”

Beta Gamma Sigma helps support The PhD Project as a member of the Supply Alliance – a group of academic and professional associations that have partnered with The PhD Project because they believe in its mission. As a Supply Alliance member, Beta Gamma Sigma makes available its member database so the Project can reach out to those BGS members that are qualifying minorities. The PhD Project has reached more than 150,000 people through the combined resources of its Supply Alliance.

With the recent decline in the overall number of business doctorates (see the related story, page 3), The PhD Project is part of the solution to another very important crisis facing business education and the corporate world.

“Academe faces a new challenge today, and in the years ahead, as the number of Ph.D.s in management education continues to decline,” wrote John J. Fernandes, president and CEO of AACSB International, in Living the Dream, the recent book published by The PhD Project. “This trend poses serious questions for all business schools.”

Fernandes said that in that context, The PhD Project’s role has never been more vital.

On campus, current students seem to understand the importance of The PhD Project’s mission.

In survey research done by the Bernard Hodes Group for The Project in 2003, 93 percent indicated that minority professors have a positive impact on the education of minority students. Almost all of the Hispanic-(98 percent) and African-American students (97 percent) believed they were better served having access to minority professors, while 91 percent of white students said minorities benefited from minority professors.

When it came to improving the education of non-minorities, 88 percent of minorities believe white students benefit from minority professors, while 83 percent of white students agree.

So what does that all mean?

The students in the survey seemed to have the best answers to the question. When asked to elaborate on why minority professors were beneficial to business students, the three most common responses were that minority professors: 1) serve as role models for achievement; 2) provide a unique perspective based on a point-of-view that is outside the ethnic majority of the culture; and 3) dispel stereotypes by their presence.

Dr. Laquita Blockson

“I definitely believe the students within the business school have gained from my exposure and presence in the classroom,” said Laquita Blockson, assistant professor of management at the University of Northern Iowa. “Almost 95 percent of my students hail from Iowa, many of whom are from small towns and rural communities. Some have approached me to tell me that I am the first African-American teacher they ever had.”

One of the first things The PhD Project does to assist potential minority candidates is invite them to the annual PhD Project Conference. This conference provides select individuals the opportunity to learn everything there is to know about a career as a business professor. At the 2003 conference, more than 1,000 individuals – all fully funded by The PhD Project and its corporate sponsors – came together for an intense group of sessions designed to clarify every stage of the process.

One session, “Secrets of a Successful Applicant”, helped to clear up the myths and mysteries surrounding applications. Other programs included “Balancing the Doctoral Program and Family” and a series of sessions titled “The Ph.D. Lifecycle” – a practical, “what-to-expect” guide designed to inform potential candidates about the realities they will face if they choose to pursue a doctorate in business.

Many participants used the conference as an oppor-tunity to weigh their options.

“I’m still unsure that doctoral studies in business would be right for me,” said Candis Robinson, a participant at the 2003 conference. “I am considering a teaching position and still believe that a doctorate could be a possible option later in my life, in business or another field.”

Robinson said the conference gave her a very good understanding of the lifestyle she could expect during and after completion of a doctorate. She said that information by itself would have made the conference worthwhile.

“I would highly recommend (attending) because you receive the information and contacts needed to learn whether or not the Ph.D. is for you,” she said.

Participants were invited to attend the conference’s Doctoral Career Fair, which many considered the most valuable part of the event. Representatives from 78 schools were on-hand to meet with participants, answer questions about their schools’ programs, help potential candidates narrow their lists of possible schools and direct candidates to faculty on campus who could help them make intelligent choices.

Program representatives believe the career fair is very valuable.

“It provides nationwide visibility and the chance to see and talk to more qualified Ph.D. applicants in a short time than any other single Ph.D. recruiting activity,” said Richard A. Rivers, Associate Dean in the College of Business and Administration at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Some of the participants had already made up their minds about pursuing an academic career.

Colin Rodriguez Griswold

Colin Rodriguez Griswold, a Beta Gamma Sigma member (San Diego State University, MBA, 2003), said The PhD Project Conference helped him a great deal. But he knew before arriving in Chicago that this was the path he wanted to take.

“I’ve always kind of known that I would like to teach,” said Griswold, a member of the National Association of Hispanic MBAs. “It’s something that’s kind of in my family – a lot of teachers. The only thing that really scared me was the research.”

Griswold, who describes himself as “half Mexican and half Irish,” said he was a bit apprehensive about the research side of an academic career. Then he decided it was just another hurdle to overcome.

“I did some research work and found out that it wasn’t all that terrible,” he said. “It was actually quite enjoyable. I was working on an environmental research project along the U.S.-Mexican border for the EPA in 2002 and 2003, and I guess that was the turning point for me.”

With that confidence, he accepted the invitation to the 2003 PhD Project Conference.

“One very positive thing that came out of it was that through the (Doctoral Career Fair) I entered into contact with the director of the program which I’ll be pursuing at the University of Arizona,” he said. “We began to exchange e-mails and he addressed my questions and doubts. I’d have to say that largely due to this personal contact I decided to apply and was accepted and awarded a fellowship.”

The annual conference is only a small part of what the organization provides. Peer associations, called Doctoral Student Associations, assist minority students working in the areas of accounting, finance, management, marketing and information systems. According to The PhD Project’s website – http://www.phdproject.com – these associations provide networking, peer support, mentoring and joint research opportunities.

As an example of their success, the dropout rate of those participating in the associations is less than 5 percent, which is significantly lower than that of the overall doctoral student population in business.

“Through the Management Doctoral Students Association conferences that The PhD Project administered, I was able to develop relationships with other underrepresented minority business doctoral students and faculty,” Blockson (from the University of Northern Iowa) said. “These relationships – both professional and personal – were critical to my ability to complete my doctoral studies in a timely manner.

“Whether it was an idea for a research topic, insight on the academic job market, guidance on managing the dissertation process, or simply words of encouragement and social support, the Project’s support of the Doctoral Students Associations helped me and other PhD Project participants become successful professors.”
Some participants say they can’t imagine making it through their doctoral programs without The PhD Project mentors that helped them along the way.

“They were, I would say, almost a life preserver at times,” said Nichole Castater, a Native American participant who was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma after finishing her doctoral studies at the University of South Carolina earlier this year. “They were a voice of sanity – almost a touchstone – in a world that I really didn’t know much about.

“You would talk to people who had gone through a Ph.D. program – who had perspective on it, who understood – and you could vent, you could sound-off, and you could say, ‘Okay, I’m not alone. What I’m feeling is not atypical.’

“They really were like a life preserver, because they allowed you to hang on when it got tough.”

The PhD Project has certainly made its impact in its first decade, and should help not only to diversify the business school classroom, but the face of business itself.

Blockson said it is vital that minorities find their way to the front of America’s classrooms.

“While not surprising,” she said, “it still amazes me sometimes that some students in the United States can complete their educational career – elementary school, secondary school and college – without ever having an African-American or other minority teacher or professor.”