Responding to critical doctoral faculty shortages and rising enrollments in management education, Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business has launched an innovative program to prepare individuals with non-business doctorates for faculty positions in business.

The college is one of five schools offering "post-doctoral bridge-to-business programs" endorsed by AACSB International, the accrediting organization for business schools worldwide. The programs, which are scheduled to begin next summer, vary in detail among the schools.

Pamplin Dean Richard E. Sorensen, who chaired AACSB’s working group on the doctoral faculty shortage, said the college is offering an eight-week, residential program with two tracks, finance and marketing, aimed at those with doctorates in related disciplines — economics, psychology, sociology, or statistics.

“Ph.D.s in economics, for example,” Sorensen said, “already have basic research and teaching skills and need only additional training focusing them in finance.”

Citing examples of current Pamplin faculty with non-business doctorates, Sorensen said finance professor Rodney Thompson received a doctorate in economics, while marketing professors David Brinberg and Kim Weaver hold doctorates in social psychology.

Pamplin’s program, limited to 25 participants in each track, includes specially designed courses as well as other graduate courses and doctoral seminars.

A former chair of AACSB’s board, Sorensen has worked closely with deans across the United States and throughout the world to establish accredited business programs. Pamplin’s post-doctoral bridge-to-business program, he said, “will have the rigor and quality of our traditional doctoral programs that emphasize scholarship, research, and teaching excellence.”

The other schools offering the bridge-to-business programs are the University of Florida, the University of Toledo, Tulane University, and Grenoble Ecole de Management (France).

To apply, please contact Frank M. Smith, director, Management and Professional Development, at(540) 231-4972.

Virginia Tech’s nationally ranked Pamplin College of Business offers undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting and information systems, business information technology, economics, finance, hospitality and tourism management, management, and marketing. The college emphasizes the development of ethical values and leadership, technology, and international business skills. A member of its marketing faculty directs the interdisciplinary Sloan Foundation Forest Industries Center at Virginia Tech. The college’s other centers focus on business leadership, business diversity, electronic commerce, organizational performance, and services innovation. The college is committed to serving business and society through the expertise of its faculty, alumni, and students. It is named in honor of alumnus Robert B. Pamplin, the former CEO of Georgia-Pacific, and businessman, philanthropist, and alumnus Robert B. Pamplin Jr.

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