Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/80527
work on research with fac- ulty advisors. That process takes four to six years to fin- ish! It's what I call the "doc- toral slave" model. There are many experi- enced clinical faculty who would love to earn their doctorates. At the Haub School at Saint Joseph's University, we have 84 full- time faculty, of whom 14 are professionally qualified (PQ). Of those 14, 12 would love to enter a doctoral program and earn their PhDs. But they have families and other responsibilities. They can't afford to give up four or more years of their lives to that cause. But who would we rather have teaching business—someone with years of real-world business experience who made the effort to become academically qualified? Or a 28-year-old PhD with no real- world business experience who wants $150,000 a year? The question is, why should our PQ faculty have to make that kind of sacrifice? I might not be a dean today if I'd had to make the same choice. Back in 1978, I had been a clinical faculty member at Saint Joseph's for a while when someone suggested that I come back and earn my doctorate. I was able to attend part-time, while I was still teaching and coaching baseball. Where are all the part-time doctoral programs today? There aren't any left. Just imagine—a world where I wasn't a business school dean, all for lack of a part-time doctoral program! Terrifying to think about, isn't it? All kidding aside, we need alter- native roads to the doctorate. This mindful that we must change our world if we want to change the world. As we forge ahead, we need to be was the conclusion of AACSB's Committee on Issues in Manage- ment Education (CIME), which I chaired last year. AACSB Inter- national already offers the Post- Doctoral Bridge Program, which provides a route for doctoral faculty from nonbusiness disciplines to become academically qualified to teach in disciplines such as account- ing, management, supply chain management, and entrepreneurship. In addition, there are models out- side the United States that do not require so much personal sacrifice on the part of doctoral candidates. Saint Joseph's University is among a group of Jesuit schools exploring the idea of designing a collaborative doctoral program. When we discuss the possibil- ity, often the first question out of a dean's mouth is, "Will this jeopardize our accreditation?" It's an understandable question, but schools should not refrain from trying new models just because they're afraid it will jeopardize their accreditation! Instead, we should examine new models that will complement the spirit of innovation that drives accreditation. There are schools around the world that use mentor and consortium models for doctoral pro- grams, with no decrease in effectiveness or quality. The fact is, doctoral education doesn't need to be full-time, and we need to be open to different models. AACSB's Business Doctoral Education Task Force, headed by Robert Sumi- chrast, has a great respon- sibility on its shoulders, as it works to support innovation and shape the future of doctoral educa- tion. I'm hopeful that its members will be able to recommend a num- ber of creative alternatives to our traditional delivery modes that ulti- mately will generate the faculty that our students need. Do We Want Businocrats? Or Informed Leaders? At one time, AACSB's standards required that half of the courses in the undergraduate business cur- riculum be outside the business disciplines. Years ago, we removed that standard. Today, we're talking once again about integrating more of the liberal arts into our business programs, as external pressures push our programs toward more voca- tional education. In my opinion, this effort can't happen soon enough. I staunchly believe that liberal learning is an integral part of a well-rounded undergraduate business program. Members of CIME agree that, as a leader in management education, AACSB should engage in heavy external communication to reframe the dialogue about undergraduate business education. We must not lose our focus on the liberal arts— 52 September/October 2012 BizEd TETRA IMAGES/GLOW IMAGES