Business Ph.D.

At the University of Kansas, we train our finance Ph.D. students to teach at the university level, to do research that is publishable in top academic journals, and to analyze questions that are important to government agencies and the private sector.

The finance Ph.D. program is small and the training is intensive.  We admit between two and four new students every other year.  Successful students develop close working relationships with the KU finance faculty, both in the classroom and on co-authored research.  Many of our students publish their first research study before finishing the program, and most students accept jobs at universities rated “high” or “very high” in research activity by the Carnegie Foundation.      

We emphasize rigorous training and hands-on experience.  Five semesters of coursework include a firm grounding in economic theory, thorough training in statistics and econometrics, and an immersion in the most important research studies in corporate finance, investments, and financial institutions.  Students begin their own research during the first year of the program and present their first research seminar early in the second year of the program; many of these “first-year papers” are eventually published in academic journals.  Students typically teach three undergraduate finance classes before graduating.

Students that remain in good standing receive up to five years of financial support.  Support includes paid tuition, subsidized student health insurance, and appointment as a research or teaching assistant with an annual stipend of at least $26,000.  Students have access to standard statistical software (e.g., SAS, Stata) and a wide range of research databases are made available through the Wharton Research Database Services (WRDS).