"Zicklin's organizational behavior/human resources faculty is a world-class group. It is lead intellectually by Wollman Distinguished Professor Abraham Korman, who is a household name in organizational behavior. Other nationally recognized members include Professors Donald Vredenburgh, Allen Kraut, Richard Kopelman, and Hannah Rothstein. With some talented younger faculty, the OB/HR program offers an almost one- to-one student-faculty ratio," says Zicklin Management Chairman Harry Rosen proudly of this doctoral business specialization, one of six offered through Zicklin.

Program Overview
The Doctoral Program in Business is one of 32 doctoral programs offered by the CUNY Graduate Center. Students in the program choose from among accountancy, finance, information systems, management planning systems, marketing, and organizational behavior and human resources. Housed at Baruch College, this PhD program prepares researchers and teachers who will contribute to the development of new management concepts and solutions to the complex problems facing private and public organizations. The program not only attracts excellent faculty but also an eclectic group of high-achieving students. Many present papers and publish articles before graduation. It is because of this combination of outstanding faculty and students that the program boasts the phenomenal placement rate of more than 95 percent.

Student Profiles:
David Prottas and Anne Davis
"Business professionals seeking a second career are a perfect market for Baruch/CUNY's Doctoral Program in Business," says David Prottas, former VP and senior transactor in Citibank's Asset Finance Group and current third-year doctoral student in the OB/HR specialization. "I'd been in international banking since 1977. A few years ago, I assessed my professional life. I projected out five years and realized I'd be unhappy. I needed a change but wanted to use what I'd learned over the last 25 years." Prottas's University of Chicago MBA and New York University MS course work, combined with his real-world experience, were more than adequate to ensure an adjunct position in business right out of Citibank, but that wasn't what he wanted. "I want to be a professional in this sphere as well. Without the doctoral training, one's teaching devolves to war stories," he explains. Prottas, an alumnus of Phillips Exeter Academy, Vassar College, and the University of Chicago, decided Baruch could arm him with the education and training he needs to be successful in his second career.

Prottas is pleased with the program, the faculty especially, whom he characterizes as "incredibly supportive and helpful." "The Baruch program is really the traditional apprenticeship program. Assistantships are research driven. The candidates learn to research, to write, to publish. The program is small and nurturing. We're not lost in the shuffle."

The doctoral program may the perfect next step for career-changing businesspeople like Prottas, but it also attracts those who want to further and deepen their knowledge of business. Second-year student Lieutenant Colonel Anne Davis is an active-duty Army officer with 21 years in the field of ammunitions management. In 2001, the Army tapped this career officer to teach in West Point's Tactical Officer Education Program, for which a PhD is a requirement. So Davis began researching universities offering doctoral programs in business. Davis was unaware of Baruch/CUNY's doctoral program in business until she found it on the Internet.

So far, so good. Davis, too, is glad of her choice. "I was attracted to Baruch because the faculty was so flexible. They were willing to work with me in the three-year timeframe the Army set for my completing the degree." (Most finish in four or more years, so Davis's is an extremely ambitious plan.) Already she has written a paper with Professor Helaine Korn to be presented at the fall Strategic Management Society Conference. Baruch's PhD program is not Davis's first foray into graduate-level education: she also holds a Harvard MBA in organizational behavior.

Professor Hannah Rothstein, the coordinator of the PhD Program in Business subspecialty in OB/HR, has nothing but praise for her students. "David and Anne are terrific examples of the high-level candidates who join the Baruch/CUNY Doctoral Program in Business. There is an abundance of sheer talent, intelligence, and enthusiasm among our students as well as such varied experience. This is a richer program because of them and their peers." —DH

Photo, above (left to right): Anne Davis, doctoral student
in organizational behavior/human resources;
Hannah Rothstein, director, PhD in business, OB/HR;
and David Prottas, doctoral student in OB/HR.