J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Office of Doctoral Studies
Biography
The Graduate School of Business doctoral program was introduced in 1935. Previous to that time, a few doctoral candidates majoring in economics had been awarded degrees with a minor in commerce. A revised program, instituted in 1961, “provided for extensive coursework in sophisticated quantitative methods, computer technology, and economic theory as well as an intensive introduction to research methods... A revised qualifying examination, which symbolized the new approach, covered three areas: quantitative methods, economic theory, and the student's major field.”
During this time, “the Northwestern Graduate School's admissions office began encouraging liberal arts graduates to apply to the Ph.D. program in business,” and the doctoral program has since flourished.
(From Michael W. Sedlak and Harold F. Williamson, The Evolution of Management Education: A History of the Northwestern University J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, 1908-1983, published for Northwestern University by the University of Illinois Press in 1983, p. 98-99).