The Business Ethics Blog

Here’s something for potential graduate students in Business Ethics. It’s a probably-incomplete list of PhD programs in Business Ethics.

I often get email from students asking how to become a “business ethicist” or a “professor of business ethics.” There are several routes to one of those glorious destinations. The title “ethicist” is of course unregulated. Anyone can call themselves that, and some people claim the title without much justification. Getting to teach business ethics at a university requires a little more by way of credentials — usually a PhD focused on ethics (often through a philosophy department, but sometimes from a business school) or a PhD in a business field, or another doctoral-level degree such as a JD, paired with experience in ethics-related issues.

Anyway, for those of you who are students, or who are advising students, here’s a little list (in no particular order) that I’ve put together by informally polling folks on the Society for Business Ethics mailing list:

Ph.D. Programs Specializing in Business Ethics

• U of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business: PhD program in Ethics and Legal Studies

Ph.D. Programs in Other Areas that Permit/Encourage a Focus on Business Ethics

• Penn State: Ph.D. in Business Administration – Management and Organization
• U of Washington’s Foster School of Business: PhD Program
• U of Virginia’s Darden School of Business: Doctoral Program
• U of Pittsburg’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business: PhD Program
• Loyola University Chicago: Philosophy PhD Program and Theology PhD Program
• Bentley University: Doctoral Degree Program

This list is of course radically incomplete. There are, for example, dozens of Philosophy PhD programs and Management PhD programs where you could do a dissertation on a topic in business ethics. I’ve only listed programs that were mentioned to me by colleagues as being especially interested in business ethics.

Please note: I’ve relied on information emailed to me in compiling this list. No endorsements are implied, and no warranties. Your mileage may vary, etc., etc.
Please feel free to contact me about serious errors or omissions.