Members of the finance faculty undertake both theoretical and empirical research. About a dozen Ph.D. students are resident at any one time. The low student-faculty ratio ensures that students receive greater attention from the faculty than in larger programs. Students are also quickly integrated into teaching, research and seminar activities and become full, active and valuable members of the department. The program prepares students for teaching or research positions in academia, the government sector, or private industry.
Students receive carefully structured, rigorous and comprehensive training in finance.
As part of this training, students take courses in microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, statistics and econometrics, as well as in the various fields of finance. The University requires 72 semester hours of graduate credit for the Ph.D. degree. Assuming a normal academic load of nine or more hours per semester and no credit for previous graduate work, the usual time required to complete the degree is five years. Students need not have an undergraduate degree in finance or economics to enter the program. However, evidence of good performance on finance-related courses is a factor in the admission decision.