Program Overview

Founded in 1856, the University of Maryland is located on a 1,250-acre suburban campus eight miles from Washington, D.C. and 35 miles from Baltimore. Washington, D.C. and the surrounding region offer unparalleled professional opportunities as well as a rich culture and recreational resources. This region is home to numerous federal agencies, universities, global corporations, and national and international nonprofit organizations. Robert H. Smith School of Business is one of 13 schools and colleges at the University of Maryland — one of the top-20 public research universities. This powerful combination makes Smith the ideal place to pursue a business doctoral degree.

The primary mission of the PhD program of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland is to produce individuals who will contribute to the discovery and dissemination of scientific knowledge through continued careers in research, publishing, and teaching at high-quality research-oriented universities and research-oriented non-academic institutions throughout the world. In carrying out this mission, it is recognized that we operate in a knowledge-based economy that is being transformed by information management.

What areas of specialization in research are offered?

The Robert H. Smith School of Business offers the PhD in business and administration with eight areas of specialization:

Accounting & Information Assurance
Finance
Information Systems
Managerial Economics
Marketing
Operations Management/Management Science
Organizational Behavior/Human Resource Management
Strategic Management
Supply Chain Management

The curriculum is designed to ensure students' exposure to, and training in, high-quality research, research methods and requisite knowledge. This is a full-time, research-intensive doctoral program and takes 4-5 years to complete. A part-time option is not available.

Program Benefits

The Smith PhD Initiative includes a number of components designed to offer its doctoral students an unprecedented degree of compensation, resources and benefits. These include:

Funding

Every student admitted to the PhD program typically receives full financial support in the form of a graduate assistantship or fellowship for all five years pending satisfactory progress. Each student also receives a $1500 research stipend per year that can be used for research-related expenses, such as travel to conferences. Like the assistantship/fellowship, the research stipend depends on satisfactory progress in the program.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

Each student is provided with a carrel and computer in the PhD program suite. The PhD program suite, which opened in 2008, is in a new wing of Van Munching Hall. The suite was funded by William A. Longbrake, a 1976 doctoral alumnus. Along with the carrel and computer, students have access to team study rooms and typical office equipment. We also have four Netcentric labs dedicated to the teaching and collecting data for our finance, marketing, organizational behavior, and supply chain management fields of study.

Faculty-Colleague Relationship: A close working relationship between faculty and Ph.D. students is a hallmark of the program.
Recognizable Research: Students regularly present papers at national as well as regional conferences and have papers accepted in major academic journals.

The Smith School’s PhD program, rated #9 in the world by the Financial Times (2015), has grown in both numbers and reputation over the past 12 years. The doctoral program is global and attracts a very diverse group of PhD students. At this time, there are approximately 90 students who represent 15 countries; about 69 percent are international and about 46 percent are women.

Rankings

Global PhD Program
Financial Times (2015)

#24

Americas 2018 Top 25 Business School Rankings
Financial Times (2018)

#16

in Research (World)
Financial Times (2018)

#17

in Research (World)
UT Dallas Top 100 Business School Research Rankings (2018)