UC Business Professor a Catalyst for Diversity

For helping to create diversity in academia, Professor Ralph Katerberg will be inducted into The PhD Project Hall of Fame.

Katerberg, head of the Department of Management in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business, is among three professors being inducted into the award-winning program whose mission is to expand diversity in corporate America by increasing diversity of business school faculty. Professors Carolyn Callahan, University of Memphis, and Thomas Lopez, University of Alabama, will also be installed at the organization’s annual conference November 14-16 in Chicago.

Founded in 1994, The PhD Project began as a way to attract under-represented minorities (African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans) to business school doctoral programs. KPMG Foundation is a founding member and principle funder of The PhD Project.

Katerberg has been instrumental in helping the organization achieve its mission by serving as a conference keynote speaker, reviewing conference applicants and representing the doctoral program at UC’s Lindner College of Business. He also offers guidance to the organization as it evolved throughout the years.

Katerberg says he appreciates having been a part of The PhD Project from the beginning.

“I have been blessed to be associated with the visionary leaders whose systemic approach to addressing diversity is changing the face of business education,” he says.

Since its inception, The PhD Project has increased minority business professors from 294 to 1,158. Currently 374 minorities are currently enrolled in doctoral programs around the country and will join faculty in business schools over the next few years.

The Hall of Fame began in 2011 to recognize those who, through leadership, have inspired and served as mentors.