Go to the Limit with a Ph.D. in Management from Sullivan University

Sullivan's Doctor of Philosophy in Management builds on your background in management and challenges you to think critically and creatively about today's management issues so you can:

• Maximize your potential as a leader and a scholar within your organization
• Contribute relevant, original research with real-life applications
• Further your professional development by providing opportunities in teaching or management training

Plus, since Sullivan's Ph.D. program is offered completely online, you don't have to give up your career in order to take your education to the next level.

Choose a Concentration Depending on your Research Interests and Professional Goals:

• Strategic Management
• Conflict Management
• Human Resource Leadership
• Information Technology Management

Why Earn Your Ph.D. in Management?

A Ph.D. in Management opens many doors. Earning your doctoral degree means becoming a practitioner-scholar with the skills and expertise required for a variety of career opportunities including:

• Teaching at the college or university level
• Management consulting
• Upper-level public or corporate policymaking
• Managing organizations at the senior or executive level

Make a name for yourself in both the academic and business realms by conducting and publishing original research and contributing new ideas to the field.

Take advantage of the recognizable credibility that comes with earning a Ph.D.

Objectives

• To prepare students to conduct scholarly research relevant to the management of organizations in the public and private sectors
• To prepare students for responsible positions in private and public sectors
• To prepare management practitioners to develop research and application skills that will enable them to serve as leaders and scholars in their organizations
• To help public and private sector organizations solve critical problems, make better decisions, and create fast-paced environments built on performance excellence

Student Learning Outcomes

The ability to:

• Apply principles and theories of organizational management into a variety of work settings
• Analyze and review research critically
• Identify research topics in one of four concentration areas
• Conduct searches of scholarly and practitioner literature
• Select appropriate research designs and statistics
• Design quantitative and qualitative based research studies
• Develop expertise in a topic by conducting a major research project

Cornerstone Requirements

Sixteen credit hours may be transferred into the Ph.D. program from a Master's-level program into the Ph.D. in Management. Cornerstone courses must be from:

• Two courses closely aligned with the macro and micro-level courses required in the management core
• A research course equivalent to Sullivan University's QNT 550 or CSC 550
• A course in the student's concentration area or a root discipline of the concentration area
• Cornerstone courses or their equivalents are determined at the discretion of the Ph.D. Admissions Committee and the Dean of the Graduate School.

Management Core

Twenty credit hours are required to provide foundational knowledge of theory-based courses and content for all students in the Ph.D. programs. Generally, these courses provide students with baseline knowledge expected from all Ph.D. students in Management. The management core courses cover the following: organizational theory, organizational behavior, human capital management, strategic management, and a course that integrates both organizational theory and organizational behavior in the study of innovation and change in organizations.

Research Core

Twenty-four credits are required as a research core. The Ph.D. is a research certification, and the research core courses are designed to provide students with knowledge and experience to function as high-level researchers in academic, business, and government organizations. All Ph.D. students take requisite coursework in research methods, research design, quantitative and qualitative research and analysis, proposal development, and mixed methods.

Concentration Area

Sixteen hours are required for a primary concentration or area of study. Students may choose one of the four concentration areas below:

• Strategic Management (Strategy)
• Conflict Management
• Human Resource Leadership
• Information Technology Management (IT Management)

The student's primary concentration area includes four courses common to all students who choose a particular concentration area.

Comprehensive Exam

Two credit hours are awarded for successful completion of the comprehensive exam. The comprehensive exam is offered in the term immediately following the student's successful completion of Ph.D. courses. Credits are awarded on a pass/fail basis, and no letter grade or quality points will be assigned for completion of the comprehensive exam.

Dissertation

A minimum of 12 credit hours are awarded for dissertation research. Credits are awarded after a student successfully defends a Ph.D. dissertation, and it’s accepted by the Dean of the Graduate School as “completion of requirements” for the Ph.D. Degree.

Residencies

Residencies are required for each of the first two years of students’ enrollment in Ph.D. studies; however, no credit hours are awarded.

Admission into the Ph.D. program in management is highly selective, with applicants being selected based on certain prerequisites. Primary factors considered include the applicant's graduate grade point averages, significant experience in a professional managerial capacity, career interests and goals discussed in an essay, the applicant's aptitude for Ph.D. study and advanced-level research, and professional recommendations. Applicants who seek admission into the Ph.D. program must submit the following materials for consideration by the Ph.D. Admissions Committee within 15 days prior to the start of Ph.D. studies:

• Completed Graduate School application form.
• Non-refundable enrollment fee.
• Official transcripts indicating completed, related Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from a regionally accredited university or from a non-U.S. institution with comparable accreditation. A minimum 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for Master's course work is required.
• Contact information for three references from past or current employers, university professors, or professional associations. Personal references from family and friends are not accepted.
• A minimum of a 750-word essay describing how your goals and experiences make you a superior candidate to pursue research and studies in management.

The Ph.D. admissions process has two stages. First, an applicant must submit all required documentation to the Ph.D. Admissions Committee by Wednesday of Week 9 of Ph.D. courses. Second, all members of the Ph.D. Admissions Committee review the application package, which includes all required documents, and decide whether or not to admit the applicant into the Ph.D. program. All decisions rendered by the committee and approved by the Dean of the Graduate School are considered final.

Credit Hours for Completion

When students complete their Doctoral coursework and pass their comprehensive exams, they enroll in MGT/CMM/CSC/HRL 799 Dissertation, a four-credit-hour course that requires full-time enrollment. For the first academic year, three subsequent sections must be successfully completed for a total of 12 credit hours. Students who do not complete their dissertation research after the first academic year are enrolled in MGT/CMM/CSC/HRL 799 Dissertation. This is a four-credit-hour course that requires full-time enrollment, each quarter until they successfully defend their dissertations or until they reach the seven-year maximum time limit-- whichever comes first. Students who continue to register for the 799 course beyond the 12 hours normally required will only be charged the contracted tuition rate for one credit hour.

Given this, students may be required to register for and accumulate hours in excess of the stated minimum number of hours (90) for completion.

Transfer Credits

A student may transfer up to 44 credit hours of Ph.D. coursework from a regionally accredited Doctoral program in areas closely related to the concentration area and management and research cores. Comprehensive exam hours and dissertation hours are ineligible for transfer and are not included in the transfer policy. Transfer of credits will be considered by the Ph.D. Admissions Committee and all decisions rendered by the committee and approved by the Dean of the Graduate School are considered final.

Tuition

The program has recently gone from $850 to $780 per credit hour. That's a savings of $5,180 for the entire program!