Doctoral Program Courses and Timeline

The marketing faculty have developed a program that involves two types of activities:

• Advanced level seminars and course work through the Department of Marketing and other UA departments
• Independent study and supervised research with individual faculty members 

All doctoral students in the Marketing Department also attend presentations made by distinguished faculty visitors and attend the annual Lisle and Roslyn Payne Research Symposium. Students are also encouraged to attend and present at national and international academic research conferences as a way to further enrich their development as scholars.

Courses for the First Two Years

For the first two years of the doctoral program students take three to four classes at a time and begin working on research projects under the supervision of faculty mentors. All doctoral seminars in the Marketing Department are half semester in length. Four such seminars are offered each fall and spring semester, two in the first half of the semester and two in the second half of the semester.

Within the marketing department, eight core courses, also known as seminars, in marketing theory and methods are currently offered on a two-year cycle. First and second year doctoral students register for all of these marketing seminars in order to develop a well-rounded, theoretical background in the core areas of marketing. These seminars are: Foundation THEORY 1, Foundation THEORY 2,Foundation CONSUMER CULTURE THEORY (CCT), Foundation CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY (CP), Foundation MODELS, Foundation STRATEGY,  Foundation METHOD/Constructs,  Foundation METHOD/Experimental Design, Specialty Elective or Independent Study (4).

In addition, specialty seminars that focus more closely on particular topics within Marketing Strategy, Marketing Models, Consumer Psychology and Consumer Culture Theory are offered on a two year cycle, such that four half-semester seminars are taught each semester. Students take the specialty seminars in their areas of interest.

Doctoral students in marketing are also required to take a variety of courses in data collection and analysis methods. These classes include statistics, experimental design, survey design, qualitative data collection and analysis and modeling methods. These courses are offered on a regular basis in psychology, sociology, economics and management departments.

Students are required by the Graduate College to take theoretically relevant coursework in a minor area relevant to their area of interest. These courses help students develop multi-disciplinary expertise. Common minors include anthropology, communications, economics, law, management, public policy, psychology, sociology and social psychology. New doctoral students work closely with faculty mentors to build an appropriate set of minor coursework that complement the students interests. The number and type of courses required for a minor are set by the department offering the minor. For more information, see the section on minors.

Note: Courses must be chosen in consultation with and be approved by the Director of the Doctoral Program. With approval, PhD students may substitute previously taken courses. These courses may be waived for students who show evidence of adequate prior coursework. In all cases, questions regarding acceptable prior preparation, waivers and exemption examinations should be directed to the PhD Program Committee Chair.