Finance Ph.D. Courses

Program completion requirements

Candidates for the Doctor of Philosophy degree must satisfy all general requirements of the Graduate School. In addition, students must complete a minimum of 60 hours of graduate credits including at least 40 hours of course work. At least 18 of the course credits should be at the 700 level, and 12-30 dissertation units may be applied toward completion of doctoral degree

A GPA of 3.0 is the required minimum for maintaining student status. Positive evaluations by the Faculty considering overall contributions are necessary for retaining assistantship support for the successive year.

All requirements, excluding prerequisite graduate courses, must be completed within 8 years immediately preceding the granting of the degree.

After the completion of all required course work, every student must pass one comprehensive written and oral exam prior to the beginning of the third year.

The students will be allowed a maximum of two attempts at the comprehensive exam. Each exam can be passed at MS level (low pass) or PhD level (high pass). To proceed with the Ph.D. program the exam must be passed at the Ph.D. level. Otherwise, if the exam is passed at the MS level, the student, if the academic record warrants it and the graduate studies committee approves of it, will end her/his program with a Master in Finance (MSF) degree.

After passing the comprehensive exams, the student will complete a dissertation supervised by a full-time faculty member in the Finance Department and approved by the student's thesis committee, followed by an oral public presentation and defense. The thesis is then submitted for the Graduate School and institutional approval.

Ph.D. course requirements (72 credits)

Required Courses:

• BADM 791 - Special Topics I, II, III, IV (12 credits in total)
• ECON 702 – Microeconomic Theory I (3 credits)
• ECON 741 – Econometrics I (3 credits)
• ECON 742 – Econometrics II (3 credits)
• BUS 798 - Graduate Research (3 credits)
• BUS 799 - Dissertation (24 credits)

Elective Courses

Choice of electives must be approved by the Mentor/Major Professor. See below for the recommended list of electives.

Econ Courses

• ECON 703 - Macroeconomic Theory I
• ECON 704 - Macroeconomic Theory II
• ECON 712 - Microeconomic Theory II

Math/Stat Courses

• BUS 706 - Intermediate Statistics I
• BUS 707 - Intermediate Statistics II
• STAT 705 - Probability Theory
• STAT 725 - Mathematical Statistics I
• STAT 726 - Mathematical Statistics II
• STAT 755 - Multivariate Data Analysis
• STAT 758 - Time Series Analysis (replaced by Time Series inside COB when it is available)

MSF Courses

• BADM 741 - Financial Management
• BADM 742 - Research Methods in Finance
• BADM 743 - Investment Management
• BADM 744 - Security Analysis and Portfolio Management
• BADM 745 - Commercial Bank Management
• BADM 746 - Corporate Treasury Management
• BADM 748 - Real Estate Finance
• FIN 620 - International Finance
• FIN 610 - Derivatives
• FIN 604 - Financial Management Theory and Practice
• FIN 693 - Advanced Seminar in Finance

Independent Study

• BADM 793 – Independent Study

Representative schedule by semester for Ph.D. in Business Administration (Finance)

Transfer of Graduate Coursework from Master's Programs

Students who have completed a Master’s degree prior to enrolling in the Doctoral program may transfer up to 24 credits of graduate coursework with a grade of “B” or better, including up to 18 credits of 700-level credits to partially fulfill elective requirements. The Program director and the Dean of the Graduate School must approve these credits.

Questions?

Contact the Ph.D. in Business Administration (Finance) Director
Joseph Halford
jhalford@unr.edu
(775) 682-9174