The American College to offer PhD in financial literacy and retirement planning

This sounds interesting. The American College to offer PhD in financial literacy and retirement planning…a 12-course Professional Doctorate in Business Administration.

New York Life Contributes $5 Million to The American College to Establish the First-Ever Professional Financial Doctorate Degree - MarketWatch

The American College

 

Looks interesting.

 

In the article they call it both a "Professional Doctorate" and a Ph.D. It can't be both. According to the college's website, it is a Ph.D. But in what, really? I wonder if "Financial Services and Retirement Planning" can be considered an academic discipline at all? What are the theoretical foundations for THAT? The curriculum sure looks practitioner-based and not at all scholarly.

They have only three full-time faculty listed with academic doctorates (two Ph.D.'s and a DBA). They also have adjuncts listed. So where is this Ph.D. coming from again?

This school has always had a great reputation in the financial services industry. But an academic doctorate? Based on what? Not the field--it isn't academic. Not the curricular content--it's applied practice. Not the faculty. Not the scholarship being produced now by the faculty. What?

Good school. Ought not to award the Ph.D. Perhaps an applied doctorate with a title similar to its master's degree in this field would have been more appropriate.

I think they got the "Professional Doctorate" right and the "Ph.D." wrong. Way wrong.