PhD Project Professor Named Assistant Dean And Chief Diversity Officer

Professor Dr. Cynthia Turner named to position at Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.

The PhD Project, an award-winning program to create a more diverse corporate America by diversifying business school faculty, announces that Project participant, Dr. Cynthia Turner, has been named Assistant Dean and Chief Diversity Officer at The Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business. She holds a BS in accounting from North Carolina A&T State University and both a MA and PhD in Accounting from Ohio State. Turner was the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in Accounting there in 1996, and now, she is the first African-American woman to be named to the dean’s leadership team at Fisher College of Business in its recorded history.

“The PhD Project is extremely proud of Dr. Turner and this milestone in her career,” said Bernard J. Milano, President of The PhD Project and the KPMG U.S. Foundation, Inc., founder and lead funder of the program. “It is evidence that we are laying the groundwork for academics like Dr. Turner to succeed by giving them a support network of like-minded scholars to collaborate with. In 2010, The PhD Project launched Project AHEAD (Achieving Higher Education Administration Diversity) to encourage tenured minority faculty to explore positions in administration and provide them with tools and resources including webinars and providing mentors.”

The PhD Project, which was founded by the KPMG Foundation in 1994 and became a separate 501(c)(3) in 2005, recruits minority professionals from business into doctoral programs in all business disciplines. Since its inception, The PhD Project has been responsible for the increase in the number of minorities earning a business PhD from 294 to 1,550, of whom 1,327 are teaching in U.S. colleges and universities. Further, 277 minorities are currently enrolled in doctoral programs, and will take a place at the front of the classroom over the next few years.

The Project attacks the root cause of minority underrepresentation in corporate jobs: historically, very few minority college students study business as an entrée to a corporate career. Diversifying the faculty attracts more minorities to study business and better prepares all students to function in a diverse workforce.

Each year, highly qualified professionals who are considering leaving their careers to enter doctoral programs in business are invited to The PhD Project Conference where they hear from deans, professors and current minority doctoral students about the benefits of pursuing a business PhD. Conference participants are provided with the tools and resources they need for the application/admission process to doctoral programs. Dr. Turner was a student member of the inaugural class of the PhD Project Accounting Doctoral Students Association and currently is a faculty member of The PhD Project Accounting Faculty Alumni Association.

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