Bentley University Executive PhD in Business

"Anything and everything that allows you to leverage that quest for new knowledge." Our Executive Ph.D. program helps lifelong learners continue the exploration of their chosen careers. Let us help you with your educational pursuits too. Join us for one of our final two info sessions with Program Director Jill Brown. 🔗https://lnkd.in/eFbEUKiE Fall cohort applications close on March 13, 2024. #ExecutivePhD #Business #BusinessEducation #LifeLongLearning

Bentley Professor, Dr. Sonia Gantman, and graduate of the first cohort of the Bentley full-time PhD program, provides perspective and encouragement to students in Dr. Tatiana Manolova’s Organizational Theory course. #BentleyPhD #ExecPhD #BusinessEducation Bentley University - McCallum Graduate School of Business

Immersion weekends are always a wealth of knowledge for our students. At our most recent immersion weekend, students and faculty presented on a number of topics. Here, Zabrina Tipton, MEd, MBA reviews the theoretical framework of contingency theory. #BusinessEducation #BusinessPhD #ExecPhD Bentley University - McCallum Graduate School of Business

The 7X Experience Design Summit is an international academic conference that devotes a day to authentic local experiences. During the conference part, I gave a presentation on some of my work studying Concord and participated in a different magical presentation. Today I dusted off my tourguiding skills gave everyone an impromptu tour (it’s ok, I have a license). Walden, Old Hill Burying Ground, Monument Square, The Old Manse (they are redoing the path, but we saw the Bridge from a distance) and then Orchard House. Am pleased to report that I believe the visiting experts had a positive experience. Thanks to Gary David for all his hard work and making it all happen!!

It’s fall break, so I have a moment to pause and share an update about how the Bentley University Executive PhD in Business program is going for me. In short, so far so good! Here are three things I’ve learned (and learned to appreciate) in my first six weeks as a PhD student: 💻 Digital reading wins. It’s a lot easier being a student in the digital age. While I do have a few physical textbooks, I’ve done most of my reading with PDFs of articles; thanks to my Kobo Elipsa 2E, I can easily underline, highlight, scribble question marks, and make margin notes, just like I did on paper 25 years ago. Now, those scribbles get synced: they are accessible from my laptop, sharable from my phone, and backed up for safety. As I’m starting to write papers and study for exams, I am relying on CTRL+F to find key concepts, which is an amazing time and focus saver. 🔑 Time management is the key. With all this reading, writing, class time, and yes, a full-time job, the only way I’m (mostly) keeping up is to carefully plan what needs to be done TODAY to stay on track. My daily to-do list has become a multi-month, multi-column spreadsheet with each class, work project, and personal event penciled in where it will fit best. Some of the best advice I got from the students in the cohort ahead of mine was to “make time for the things that keep you sane.” I’m finding that is doable as long as I plan ahead, so along with assignment due dates, my to-do list includes future fitness classes, hikes with my family, and movie nights. Given current challenges at work (more on that soon), carefully managing my time is the only way to get it all done. 🎓 Bentley is the place for me. Growing up in New England, I always knew “Bentley College” was a strong regional business school. Fast forward to today, and Bentley University is a leading national institution that brings together rigor and relevance to face today’s business challenges. The faculty and administration in the Executive PhD program are 100% engaged and committed to their students’ success. I’m humbled to be among such interesting, ambitious students in Cohort 2, and grateful for those blazing the trail in Cohort 1. Six weeks down, nearly three years to go... 

Working towards earning my PhD has been the most fulfilling thing I've done in years. Starting and running Watch City Research has been interesting, but it's just a continuation of agency life. Learning about Organizational Theory, deep topics in Experience Design, and Qualitative and Quantitative analysis has been deeply fulfilling. I appreciate that the program allows me to continue along in my normal life while I pursue my terminal degree and hopefully shift to academia. If you've been considering earning a PhD but don't want to interrupt your career, the Bentley University Executive PhD in Business may be right for you.

Take part in a flexible part-time accelerated PhD that fits your busy life. Applications for our Fall 2025 cohort are now open! Priority Deadline - January 6, 2025 Final Deadline - March 17, 2025 If you still have questions about the program, be sure to attend one of our upcoming Info Sessions or schedule a call with program Director Jill Brown. For a list of admissions and application requirements visit our website. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e7VRkXDP

Congratulations to Olukayode (Kay) Anifowose for speaking on News Central TV's Town Hall Series, representing Nigerian Professional Group Inc. at the United Nations General Assembly 79th side event. His theme, Harnessing the Power of the Diaspora: The Right to Vote, runs alongside his research as a second-year PhD student. At Bentley University, Kay is researching the diaspora of Nigerians/West Africans in the US and the opportunities and challenges of employee engagement and career progression for these populations with support from his advisor Marcus Stewart.

Interested in Bentley University's Executive PhD in Business? Join our next info session with Program Director Jill Brown on Friday October 11, at 12 PM EST to learn more about what sets our part-time flexible PhD apart.

An update on the various academic research I've been undertaking this year during the Bentley University Executive PhD in Business. Luckily, I have just enough projects for Watch City Research to pay the bills while I otherwise turn my attention to academia. 1) Using Electrodermal Activity (EDA) for Usability Studies: This was a class project from the Spring semester that did indeed uncover learnings, though none that are publishable. In short, I learned that using #EDA to conduct "discount" #usability studies isn't really a viable option. Usability is intended to be relatively quick and cheap, but EDA studies don't necessarily afford these. I found that the data was really all over the place, peaks in the data were difficult to discern, and the sensor didn't necessarily work well with many participants. I probably should have had them use hand moisturizer to improve the signal. Data analysis was also quite time consuming. Sure, over time one could build up some R scripts to help with the analysis, but frankly, it seems like it's more useful to just watch what people do and ask them key questions along the way. Using EDA for usability is a nifty idea, but it doesn't seem to meet business needs the way that think-aloud usability studies do. 2) Scoping Review of misalignments in physicians' Electronic Health Record (EHR) workflows: I'm doing the three-paper model for my dissertation and the scoping review is the first of the three papers. I'm quite excited to report the initial draft of my lit review is now done! I did a database search to investigate the patient impact of misaligned EHR physician workflows and their resulting workarounds. This uncovered a number of interesting insights, among them A) The physician #EHR #workflow literature doesn't bring patient impact into the conversation; B) Papers tend to not name which EHR was under investigation, hindering uncovering opportunities for specific EHRs; C) There is a trend in the recent literature towards optimizing EHRs with #clinician input. Hopefully, we can leverage this trend to continue to make EHRs more usable for clinicians with the goal of improving patient outcomes. 3) Pilot interviews with #physicians about the patient impact of EHR workflow misalignments: Based on the outcome of the #literature review and to inform the approach for my dissertation research, I'll be conducting pilot interviews with physicians in October. I'm just about ready to hand in the IRB materials and hope to publish the results separately from my dissertation. Special thanks to the Bentley University Center for Health and Business for the funding for this pilot study. More to come as the PhD journey continues!