Katz DBA Delivers Experiences and Solutions
Experienced professionals will get expert advice to solve complex, real-time challenges at work through the new Executive Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree offered by the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business.
Beginning in Fall 2022, the program offers experiences and courses, taught by highly ranked faculty members at Katz, to keep professionals ahead of the evolving business world. Those with at least eight years of management experience and currently holding a middle-to-top management position, along with other credentials, can apply by the June 30, 2022, deadline to join the inaugural cohort.
Core Courses
Comprising 42 credits (conditional on the transfer of 30 credits from a qualifying master’s program, 72 credits otherwise), the program includes coursework, an immersive residency, and a capstone Practicum Research Project.
“Through our methodology and disciplinary core seminars, we want to give students a practical and statistical understanding,” said Dennis Galletta, Professor of Business Administration and Director of the Ph.D. program. “Oftentimes, statistics courses spend time on mathematical proofs of statistical procedures. Our DBA faculty will show how to get to that conclusion by taking a practical research approach to the problems they might face.”
Problem Solving
Another highlight of the Katz DBA program, which is an associate academic member of the Executive Doctorate Business Administration Council, is the immersive nine-credit capstone Practicum Research Project (PRP).
“The PRP is designed for students to work on an issue from their current employer since it is a part-time program,” said J. Jeffrey Inman, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty. “They’ll work with a faculty advisor to design a research question and lay out a plan to study the problem, and then develop the methodology, collect data, and write up the entire project, along with recommendations and an implementation plan.”
With the help of Katz esteemed faculty members, students will perform a rigorous, research-based analysis of a substantial and significant business problem.
“We like to tell prospective candidates that they’ll have synergy at Katz—they’ll be doing schoolwork at work and work at school,” said Galletta. “They’ll be merging work and school together to make double use of their time.”
Sharing Solutions
Students also have the opportunity to participate in a one-week summer residency program, in-person or virtually, each summer of the program.
“In summer 1, students may be focusing on defining a problem and the methods they might use,” said Inman. “In summer 2, they would have more advanced notions of what they want to do and fixed on their research problem. Ideally, we’d like to have students in year 2 talk to students in year 1 to have a mix of ideas and understanding.”
A Step Above
Pitt is an R1 Research University and an AAU member, a set of only 66 prestigious institutions. Katz is also AACSB accredited—a unique accreditation that fewer than 5% of business schools can claim.
“The Katz DBA does not have any adjunct professors teaching in the program—rather several chaired and full research faculty members,” said Inman. “This is a unique offering as our students will be exposed to cutting-edge research and methods and collaboration opportunities with top researchers —unlike many other programs.”
Apply Today
The DBA program follows the “hyflex” model, which provides face-to-face classes that are also placed online in both synchronous and asynchronous modes simultaneously. Classes take place during the week, allowing weekends off for students—a unique DBA feature.
With the combination of flexibility, prestigious faculty members, and diverse, immersive coursework, Katz DBA students will be on the path to reach top-level leadership. To request more information, submit this form.
