Research for the digital age
Credit hours: 60
Full-time
4-year program
5:1 student-faculty ratio
Start terms: fall, spring
Be a next-generation thought leader
We train you to analyze how technology can be transformative in business, society, and daily life. With a dozen faculty members advising students, you will work with experts in the field to craft research that matters. Our research tracks are flexible and our curriculum guides you down a path of creating impactful research that applies to business today.
100% academic placement over the past 3 years
STEM-certified
Multidisciplinary
Collaborate across disciplines
Top 10 city for tech
Denver is home to companies like Google and SendGrid
Our information systems faculty members are experts in their chosen field publishing in journals including:
- MIS Quarterly
- Information Systems Research
- Decision Support Systems
- Journal of Management Information Systems
- Production and Operations Management
As the school’s flagship PhD program, our students and faculty regularly publish student and faculty research in A-level journals. You’ll have a solid foundation in research methodology through a mix of hands-on and theoretical work. Our students choose research in areas that are of interest to both academia and industry.
Research tracks are individualized, but always reflect themes relevant to the modern business environment. Examples include:
- Business Value of Information Technology
- IT Governance and Strategy
- Business Intelligence
- E-commerce
- Sustainability
- Socio-materiality
- Technology Adoption
This rigorous program is designed as a full-time four-year program consisting of 60 credit hours. Thirty credits are dedicated to course work beyond the master’s level, while the remaining credits are related to your dissertation. A detailed look at the schedule of courses can be found in the CSIS PhD Handbook.
“I chose the CU Denver Business School for my PhD for its robust program and variety of research areas. I am extremely happy with my selection and will always be grateful to all of the excellent professors who not only provided me with great knowledge and training but also devoted a lot of their time to mentoring and guiding me through my degree.”
– Yazan Alnsour ’16, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois
Core information systems PhD courses (9 hours)
These courses give a broad foundation of knowledge in conducting doctoral level research.
- Philosophy of science
- Research themes in information systems
- Strategic and organizational research
- Analytical research
Core information systems method courses (9 hours)
You’ll gain a strong background in different methods that you’ll apply to your dissertation research.
- Foundational research methods
- Qualitative research methods
- SEM and regression techniques
Computer science courses (6 hours)
These courses solidify your knowledge in topics relevant to modern challenges in the digital era.
- Computer networks
- Cloud computing
Advanced research methods (6 hours)
These courses vary from multivariate statistics to econometrics courses.
Dissertation (30 hours)
After selecting a dissertation advisor, you will choose a committee that will continuously monitor your progress throughout the program. You’ll begin working on your independent research project during the summer before your third year. The emphasis for dissertations is that the research should be practically relevant and solve a problem facing modern business.
We've had
100% academic placement
over the past 3 years
PhD CSIS Learning Outcomes
Value 1: Communicate Effectively
Outcome: Create effective academic papers and presentations to communicate results of original research.
Value 2: Research Proficiently
Outcome: Demonstrate competence in developing research questions in important areas of information systems and applying research methods to study research questions.
These objectives are assessed using a written dissertation and oral defense.
The Business School is not accepting applications.
You may apply through the Engineering School's Computer Science program here.
Research that matters
“It was my privilege to have been a doctoral student at CU Denver. It is amazing how much my education and practical training in this program have been serving me in my endeavor as a researcher and an educator at one of the most prestigious medical programs in the United States.”
– Toan Ong ’14, Assistant Professor, University of Colorado School of Medicine
100% academic job placement over the past three years
“The department provided financial support for me to attend various conferences, which helped me to keep abreast of all the latest research being conducted in the field and interact with top information systems professionals from companies like IBM and Microsoft.”
– Bidyut Hazarika ’16, Assistant Professor, Western Michigan University