The PhD Project Announces 2012 Results: 24 Minority Business Professors Earn Tenure, 46 Earn Doctorates, 22 Rise to Administration

MONTVALE, N.J., Feb. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The PhD Project announced today that 24 African-American, Hispanic-American, and Native American professors earned tenure at U.S. business schools and 46 minorities completed their doctorates and became business professors, bringing the total number of minority business school professors to 1,172 in 2012. In addition, 22 minorities have advanced to positions of academic leadership such as department chair or dean. All of these professors were impacted by The PhD Project, through one or more of its programs to attract, inform, encourage and assist future minority professors.

The PhD Project, a 501(c) (3) organization that the KPMG Foundation founded in 1994, recruits minority professionals from business into doctoral programs in all business disciplines: accounting, finance, information systems, management and marketing. Since its inception, The PhD Project has been responsible for the increase in the number of minority business professors from 294 to 1,172. Further, 362 minorities are currently enrolled in doctoral programs, and will take a place at the front of the classroom over the next few years. The Project attacks the root cause of minority under-representation in corporate jobs: historically, very few minority college students study business as an entree to a corporate career.  Diversifying the faculty attracts more minorities to study business and better prepares all students to function in a diverse workforce.

The PhD Project impacted all of these professors, who attended its annual conference prior to the start of their doctoral programs and/or participated in the Project's Doctoral Student Association conferences during their doctoral programs and into their academic careers. 

"Just as African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans finally have role models who are professors, minority faculty can now look to the senior ranks of academia and know they too can attain these positions of influence," said Bernard J, Milano, president of the KPMG Foundation, one of the founders and the principal funder of The PhD Project. "As more minorities achieve positions of tenure and administrative roles, the goal of having a diverse faculty to attract a diverse student body for tomorrow's work force takes another big step forward."

Some of America's top companies, foundations, associations and academic organizations support The PhD Project. They are: KPMG Foundation, Graduate Management Admission Council, Citi Foundation, AACSB International, 240+ universities, AICPA Foundation, DiversityInc, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, The Merck Company Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP, Rockwell Collins, American Marketing Association, John Deere Foundation,  AT&T, CIGNA, ADP, American Express, The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, California State University System,  Edison International, Lincoln Financial Group, and Aerotek/TEKsystems (operating companies of Allegis Group) and 3M.

For more information and a for complete list of tenured and new faculty, including those in your community or discipline, visit http://www.phdproject.org.

SOURCE The PhD Project