Anne Bowers, PhD

Having an eclectic background, including the performing arts and public relations, was part of what led Anne Bowers to pursue her PhD at Michigan Ross.

I definitely had a non-traditional path to a business PhD, so it was a priority to find a program where that would be an asset,” she says. “I thought the Ross faculty were the kind of researchers that I could learn a lot from, and I was really impressed by what Michigan had to offer as a university.

Bowers continued her multidisciplinary approach while at Michigan, deciding to pursue a joint PhD in business strategy and sociology. “This wouldn’t have happened if faculty across the university at large didn’t know and like each other, making it possible to do something unconventional,” she says. “What made the critical difference was that I had an advisor who was very willing to let me do what I needed to do to succeed.”

Bowers credits her uncommon dual degree for helping to lead to her current position as a tenured associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Support from the Ross faculty also helped. “The support I got in crafting my research, including my job talk, research statements, and my job market paper, was absolutely top notch, and I learned things in the program that I teach my students today,” she says.

To anyone considering a Michigan Ross PhD, Bowers offers this advice: “Go to the place that you think will support your research interests now, but also has enough interesting faculty that if your interests change, you aren’t stuck. The strategy group at Michigan has a ton of research-active faculty who work intensely with doctoral students, so there are lots of opportunities on lots of topics. This was great for me because what I thought I was going to research when I started the PhD is not at all what I ended up researching.  It’s such a rich environment for getting exposure to ideas.”