News Archive
USF to Host Seventh Annual Executive DBA Council Conference; Hundreds From Around the World Expected to Attend
By Keith Morelli
TAMPA (August 11, 2017) -- Last year, the conference was in Paris, as in Paris, France. This year, Tampa.
The Executive Doctor of Business Administration Council's Engaged Management Scholarship Conference, which draws scholarly practitioners from around the world, is set to take place here on the University of South Florida campus from Sept. 6-10.
Conference attendees will attend workshops and consortia at the Muma College of Business and main conference events at the Marshall Student Center.
Among the reasons USF was chosen as this year's conference venue is the growing reputation of the fairly young DBA program at the Muma College of Business, said Program Director Matt Mullarkey.
"Our program really has gained a wonderful reputation," he said. Another reason was the "forceful will and personality" of academic Director Grandon Gill, who is a member of the executive board of the EDBA Council and widely respected among members of the organization.
About 250 educators and program alumni are expected to attend the seventh annual event.
"We're going to have about 50 faculty from the top 20 DBA programs worldwide here," Mullarkey said.
The council was founded in 2011. Its mission: to foster excellence and innovation in executive doctoral-degree programs worldwide. Its aim: to provide outstanding networking and educational opportunities for professionals who participate in executive doctoral-degree programs.
Each year, the conference venue is rotated among North America, Europe and Asia, Mullarkey said. Those attending are scholarly practitioners (executives who also conduct business-related research) who are at the top of their game in the corporate world. Scholarly practitioners will present research during the event.
"This provides an outlet and exchange of ideas of the best research from the best executive DBA programs," he said, "research that is important and relevant to the business community today."
Mullarkey said the conference is a chance for the 85 students in three cohorts of the DBA program at the Muma College of Business to network and discuss their research with others.
The Executive DBA Council is the only organization that focuses on global executive doctoral-degree programs. It has 52 member schools located in 13 different countries ranging from the United States to the United Arab Republic to Belgium to Peru to Australia to China.
The conference includes activities that take place at the Muma College of Business. On Sept. 6, the college will host day-long, preconference workshops and on Sept. 7, alumni and doctorial consortia are scheduled. All the conference events and workshops are open to Muma College of Business faculty and business students.
Demand for DBA degrees is growing, Mullarkey said, as executives strive for more answers to complex business problems they face in their professional lives. The degree, he said, provides them with the tools they need to conduct their own research that can have an immediate impact in the corporate world.