PHD, Business Administration: Risk Management & Insurance

Degree Program Summary:

The Ph.D. program in risk management and insurance is designed to prepare students for teaching and research at universities and colleges and for positions in government and business. The program is individualized to allow for specializing in various areas within the field of risk management and insurance. By supplementing courses with other programs in the Terry College of Business Administration, the student has choices in the direction and concentration of his or her desired specialty. For example, graduate students can combine their insurance program with law, economics, quantitative methods, finance, management, marketing, or accounting. This flexibility gives the student a wide degree of latitude in choosing a program that corresponds with a specific career path.

Student enrolling in the PhD Program in Business Administration select a major field of study from one of the following business areas: Accounting, Finance, Management, Management Information Systems, Marketing, Real Estate, and Risk Management & Insurance. Students are also required to select a minor field and obtain a competency in research methodology. The minor field and research methodology courses may be chosen from inside or outside the Terry College of Business. The research apprenticeship, composed of 3 hours of coursework, is also taken under the guidance of a major professor and involves research-oriented activities that help the student develop skills needed to undertake a dissertation.

Following the completion of the coursework, comprehensive preliminary examinations, both written and oral, are required. These examinations are administered by the graduate faculty in each area of the student’s program of study. The written exam tends to focus on the student’s knowledge of the major field and research methods. The oral examination assesses the integration of the technical competencies in the foundation, the major and minor fields, and the research methodology. A dissertation completes the program. The PhD Dissertation Advisory committee works with the student on all aspects of the dissertation study.

Please use the links provided above if you would like to learn more about the PhD program structure and plan of study for a particular area. These links also serve as a portal to information provided by the individual areas.