To be a professor at a young age requires a Ph.D.; however, universities increasingly allow accomplished professionals to teach some practical-related courses, giving them titles like “Professors of Practice” or the like. In this case, the experience is what matters. For business schools and public policy schools, this can make a lot of sense, provided the teacher is at least somewhat familiar with the theoretical literature and can do more than just recount a bunch of war stories. Personally, as university education gets more expensive and it gets increasingly difficult to see how college graduates wit only a BA are going to find jobs that can pay back large quantities of debt in a world where they are competing with the lowest cost producers worldwide, I think universities are going to want to have more professors of practice. It may not help that much in rality, but universities will at least be able to argue that they have successful professionals on the faculty lists to help mentor students and insert them effectively into the workplace. So when I left academe, I figured there might be a road back if I wanted it. That depends on me being a succesful professional elsewhere, of course. 
busprof Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Joey: > > I haven’t heard of much of this going on in my > field (maybe from when they were single PhD > students, but not post-grad). Either finance > majors have higher standards, faculty are > butt-ugly and so bad that the bar’s too high, or > we’re just more discreet. > > I;ve heard of a few faculty catting around with > each other, but not faculty/student relations. > > I’m not sure how I’d even respond to an offer like > that. Conferences are a different case; somehow hookups happen more often there. Where I taught, faculty and grad sudents were allowed to have extra-curricular relationships, but not if the student was in any position where the faculty member would have a formal role in evaluating the student’s work. It was still frowned upon, but not actually actionable. I had some students that clearly had a crush on me, which was cute to watch (and had never happened to me in any other context), but I never took the bait. Wasn’t prepared to be fired for that (since I was grading them).
Here is the real question, is it possible to work through your PhD studies? Any suggestions are greatley appreciated and thank you guys so much for all your insight. I wish I had professors who would respond to me like this when I was in college.
I believe Boston Univ offers a part time business PhD, so yes. There is also a DBA, which is more vocational/less academic but not offered at very many schools.
akanska Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I always thought a Community College gig in a nice > beach community could not be beat later in life or > for a mom… > > 1. guaranteed ~80k > 2. 30 hours a week MAX > 3. full benefits > 4. 3 months vaca > 5. no research/ publishing necessary. > 6. surfing everyday Agreed. I took a couple classes at Santa Barbara City College when I lived on the central coast. After seeing how nice the instructors their had it, I decided instead of retiring completely, I am going to teach. Also, along with the above six items noted, there is no requirement to have a Phd., just a masters degree.
NorthernCFA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Here is the real question, is it possible to work > through your PhD studies? Any suggestions are > greatley appreciated and thank you guys so much > for all your insight. I wish I had professors who > would respond to me like this when I was in > college. I had a child and a very lazy wife while I was getting doing my graduate work so I worked part-time (10-20 hours/week) during my studies and full time for all summers except the one before my qualifiers. During grad school I worked for EPA, a grey-market sports car importer, a company doing acid rain data collection for EPA, RAND Corporation, Center for Naval Analyses, Carolina football (tutoring math), maybe that’s it…
my husband just got his PhD in mech engineering. he got paid throughout his program for doing a research assistanceship. are those not available in finance?
I had a fellowship that paid significantly better than an assistantship. The same fellowship currently pays $30K/year (+ tuition). How easily can 3 people live on $30K/year?
Wow. I lived off a 14k fellowship from the National Science Foundation when I was in grad school. I see that it pays 30k these days.
i didn’t say he got paid well… i just said he got paid 
if you figure in benefits (aka the research credits), its a lot better than $30k i know, i know. getting paid via tuition credits doesn’t really feed a family.