The PHD Project Reaches A Milestone
The PhD Project celebrates 25 years of diversifying business school faculty.
The PhD Project is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, which will culminate with a 25th Anniversary Gala on November 22, 2019 in Chicago.
The PhD Project works to provide role models to encourage more minority undergraduates to study business and pursue business careers. When it launched in 1994, there were just 294 Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic-American or Native American business professors in the United States. The Project’s vision is to diversify corporate America by increasing the number of underrepresented minority business professors who attract more minority students to study business in college.
Since its inception, The PhD Project has been responsible for the increase in the number of underrepresented business Ph.D.’s, to 1,550, of whom over 1,300 are teaching in U.S. colleges and universities today. Further, close to 300 minorities are currently enrolled in business doctoral programs and will take a place at the front of the classroom over the next few years.
“The PhD Project’s 25th anniversary is a moment to reflect on our progress, commemorate our achievements and look towards the future,” said Bernard J. Milano, president of The PhD Project and KPMG U.S. Foundation, Inc. “The success of The Project was made possible by the continued investments of our sponsors, supporters and participants. We have quintupled the number of diverse faculty, but the underrepresentation of minorities continues, and much work remains to be done.”
The dinner will also celebrate the passion and leadership of Milano, who will step down as President on December 31, 2019. For the past 25 years, Milano has been leading the effort to change the face of business academia. He is both respected and admired in the academic, nonprofit and corporate communities.
Each year, highly qualified professionals who are considering leaving their careers to enter doctoral programs in business are invited to this annual conference where they hear from deans, professors and current minority doctoral students about the benefits of pursuing a business Ph.D. Conference participants are provided with the tools and resources they need for the application/admission process to doctoral programs. Once they enter a program, every minority business doctoral student in an AACSB accredited U.S. business school becomes a member of one of The Project’s five (accounting, finance, information systems, marketing and management) Doctoral Student Associations (DSAs). Each year, The Project holds a conference for each of the five DSAs, where the doctoral students come together, forming a strong support network while receiving important tools to help them navigate their doctoral programs.
The PhD Project has received ongoing support from its sponsoring companies, participating universities, individuals and organizations. The founding organizations, in addition to the KPMG Foundation, are the Graduate Management Admission Council and AACSB International. Other financial sponsors of The Project include: AICPA Foundation, Diversitylnc, Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP, American Marketing Association, John Deere Foundation, California State University System, Lincoln Financial Group, Academy of Management, American Accounting Association, City University of New York System, Aerotek, NASBA, Thrivent Financial, American Express Foundation, Fidelity Investments, Bentley University, Linkedln, New York Life, IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants), The Pierson Milano Family and over 300 participating universities.
For more information on The PhD Project, visit: www.phdproject.org or contact Lisa King at (646) 234-5080 or lisak@mediaimpact.biz. Visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thephdproject; Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ThePhDProject.
