Finance Program

The Ph.D. in Finance is a research-oriented degree designed to prepare graduates for careers in academia or in the financial world. The program is broad based with all finance majors having a research field and a minor field. Although the minor field is typically economics, students may select from a diverse group of minor fields. Minor fields must be approved by the major field coordinator.

Graduates are qualified for tenure-track Assistant Professor positions at research universities and at teaching colleges. The program includes in-depth training in both theoretical and empirical/statistical aspects of the field of finance together with training in classroom performance.

The strong analytical approach of the curriculum also provides expertise for graduates to enter the financial world. Numerous opportunities exist for positions in the securities industry, investment banking, and other financial services arenas locally, regionally, and on Wall Street.

The departmental offerings, coupled with offerings of other departments within and without the College of Business, provide the student with flexibility to pursue specialized interests while ensuring that the graduate is well rounded with a strong foundation in finance. Within the finance major, studies are available in the areas of corporate finance, investments, financial institutions, risk management, international finance, and real estate.

In order to maintain and improve the quality of our Ph.D. program for finance majors, we will delay acceptance of the next new finance class from Fall of 2011 to Fall of 2012.