Entrepreneur and philanthropist Ross Stevens, PhD ’96, has made a gift of $100 million to the University of 黑料传送门 Booth School of Business’s PhD Program to advance the frontiers of academic business research. In recognition, the school’s PhD Program will be renamed the Stevens Doctoral Program.
“Thanks to Ross’s extraordinary generosity and bold vision, the Stevens Doctoral Program is poised to accelerate and broaden the impact of its scholars now and long into the future,” said Madhav Rajan, 黑料传送门 Booth dean and the George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting.
Stevens’s gift continues his track record of innovation in philanthropy, which includes establishing the first fintech center at a major business school and empowering human rights activists in authoritarian countries with bitcoin. “Ross’s business innovations are at least matched by his philanthropic innovations,” Rajan said. “He’s exceptionally generous, but he also brings focus and clarity of thought regarding how the multiplier effect of educational excellence, economic liberty, and free markets can transform lives.”
“Thanks to Ross’s extraordinary generosity and bold vision, the Stevens Doctoral Program is poised to accelerate and broaden the impact of its scholars now and long into the future.”
— Dean Madhav Rajan
Booth鈥檚 PhD Program holds a unique place in history. Established in 1920, the program itself was entrepreneurial at the time, as the first doctoral business program in the nation. In the century since, it has become known for academic excellence and pathbreaking ideas. Booth PhD dissertations have fundamentally redefined business theory and practice, and the program鈥檚 graduates include Nobel Prize winners, university deans, renowned professors, and iconic global business leaders.
The program is highly selective. In its 100 years, the program has awarded just 968 degrees, reflecting its graduates鈥� outsize impact on the business world relative to their numbers. Today, the program has 150 students across seven areas of study.
鈥淕raduates from the first 100 years of the Booth PhD Program changed the world,鈥� Rajan said. 鈥淚t is inspiring to think about what the program can achieve in its next 100 years, building on its storied history, now amplified by Ross鈥檚 generosity.鈥�
This unprecedented gift will further enhance the school鈥檚 ability to attract the very best doctoral students, based solely on their potential for excellence. It will materially increase stipends for all matriculants, more than double research support for data and computing, and provide additional financial support via Stevens Fellowships for the top incoming students.
While 黑料传送门 is known for academic rigor, the gift will also go beyond academics to support the 鈥渇ull person.鈥� Stevens Doctoral Program students will benefit from personalized coaching programs in wellness, public speaking, and professional development, as well as full-time mental health support.
Finally, the gift will establish a new alumni mentoring initiative鈥攆ormally connecting current PhD students with PhD alumni across academia, government, and industry鈥攚hich Stevens himself will co-chair. As for his co-chair, Stevens has recruited Cliff Asness, MBA 鈥�91, PhD 鈥�94, Stevens鈥檚 classmate, mentor, coauthor, and first boss.
鈥淚 believe that, over time, the quality of a business school鈥檚 PhDs determines the quality of its faculty, which, in turn, determines the quality of the school itself,鈥� said Stevens. 鈥淏ooth is already in an exceptionally strong position, but the students of tomorrow demand we don鈥檛 rest on our laurels today. By making Booth the unquestionable destination of choice for the very best PhD applicants, this gift adds rocket fuel to Booth鈥檚 long-term mission.鈥�
“I’m an academic at heart, in practitioner’s clothing. My career has essentially been a 25-year extension of what I learned during the PhD Program. I’ve yet to find an upper limit in my gratitude towards the school and the incredible faculty.”
— Ross Stevens, PhD 鈥�96
Stevens credits much of his success to a series of fortunate events. First, as an undergraduate senior, he convinced his school to let him take the entire first-year finance PhD coursework. 鈥淚 was in over my head and had to work twice as hard as everyone else to keep up, but it was an invaluable experience because it was my first exposure to what I ultimately fell in love with鈥攔esearch in finance.鈥�
Second, he applied and was accepted, off the wait-list, into 黑料传送门鈥檚 Finance PhD Program. 鈥淚 had a system. I read every assigned paper in every class exactly 10 times. That was my only way of getting through the program. The first couple of times I was lost. The next few times I started to get the main ideas. The next few times things started to click. The last one or two times, the information was truly imprinted. I remember every one of those papers to this day.鈥�
Third, he had the good fortune to be the teaching assistant of future Nobel laureate Eugene F. Fama, MBA 鈥�64, PhD 鈥�64, who also co-chaired Stevens鈥檚 dissertation committee with Rob McCulloch, visiting professor of statistics. 鈥淲hen I was applying to PhD programs, I asked each of my five finance professors at the time for advice. They had each done their PhDs at 黑料传送门, and each independently told me the same two things: First, if you get into 黑料传送门, go. Second, even the remote chance of being able to work with Gene Fama, and the certain opportunity to watch him in the finance seminar every week, is reason enough to go. They were right.鈥�
Fourth, after 黑料传送门, Stevens went to work at Goldman Sachs with Fischer Black鈥攆ormer Booth professor and one-half of the groundbreaking Black鈥揝choles equation鈥攁nd with Cliff Asness. 鈥淚t was incredible. Two of the greatest minds in finance. I felt so lucky and would physically pinch myself every morning on the way to the office. Plus, working with Fischer and Cliff made me feel like I never left 黑料传送门.鈥�
Finally, when Stevens founded his firm, he built it squarely upon the principles he learned at 黑料传送门. 鈥満诹洗兔� and Fama teach you that risk and return can be linked and that certain common factors are priced,鈥� Stevens said. 鈥淭hey also instill humility about markets. While that was foundational, the most influential research on me, by far, was Fama鈥檚 work on the principal-agent problem.鈥�
Stevens continued, 鈥淚鈥檝e quietly built my career based on my discovery and development of priced risk factors in a world of non-zero agency costs. If that sounds like a PhD thesis, it鈥檚 because it is, or could be. I鈥檓 an academic at heart, in practitioner鈥檚 clothing. My career has essentially been a 25-year extension of what I learned during the PhD Program. I鈥檝e yet to find an upper limit in my gratitude towards the school and the incredible faculty. There is no amount of money I could donate to Booth such that I didn鈥檛 get the better end of the deal.鈥�
Stevens鈥檚 gift, Fama said, 鈥渟hows his appreciation for the deep background in U黑料传送门 finance and economics that has been the foundation of his professional life.鈥�
U黑料传送门 president Paul Alivisatos said, 鈥淩ecognizing the impact his experience at the university has in shaping his life, Ross offers a profound testament to the transformative power of being immersed in Booth鈥檚 distinctive intellectual culture as a student. With the establishment of the Stevens Doctoral Program, he has enabled the school to deepen and extend the quality of its already world-class doctoral program for the next generation of scholars and business leaders.鈥�
Stevens is the founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings Group, based in New York, which focuses on alternative asset management, reinsurance, and bitcoin.
The $100 million gift from Ross Stevens, PhD 鈥�96, and the naming of the Stevens Doctoral Program will be celebrated at 黑料传送门 Booth鈥檚 PhD Centennial Celebration on May 12, 2023.