Ph.D. in Technology Management

We seek students who want to become exceptional scholars and who will go on to research and teach at top universities across the country and around the world.  You would fit our program well if you are interested in technology-related work regardless of whether you have a background in the social sciences, physical sciences, management or engineering. 

Our program integrates organizational studies with technology and innovation studies in an interdisciplinary environment that transcends the distinctions between disciplines.  If you come from a technology or scientific background we will teach you about the importance of organizations and social systems.  If you have a social science or management background you will learn to understand the role of technology and innovation in shaping organizational action.  

The job market for interdisciplinary Ph.Ds. with training in technology and organizations is expected to be strong over the next decade. We anticipate that most graduates will pursue academic positions in Schools of Communication (where the study of organization and technology is increasing swiftly), in Schools of Information (which are being rapidly founded across the country), in Schools of Engineering (that are increasingly interested in the social aspects of technical work), and in Business Schools (where the study of technology innovation and entrepreneurship is growing). Unlike the demand for Ph.D. tenure track faculty in many other disciplines, the number of tenure track openings in these schools exceeds the number of Ph.Ds. awarded each year, and that gap is increasing.

UCSB is world renowned for its interdisciplinary culture.  Faculty and students are encouraged to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries and to pioneer exciting new interdisciplinary fields and programs. The Technology Management Program is just such a program. Our faculty is world renowned for its commitment to interdisciplinarity.  The faculty have backgrounds that range from engineering and management to the social sciences.  We encourage our students to explore courses and to make links to faculty in the social sciences, environmental science, and other engineering departments.  The Technology Management Program is housed in the College of Engineering ranked as the number one in the world among public universities for engineering research. The National Research Council ranks all the College of Engineering’s research programs among the top five for their disciplines.

Stephen Barley, Distinguished Professor, Technology Management

Barley has written over 100 articles on the impact of new technologies on work, the organization of technical work, and organizational culture.  Barley teaches courses on the organizational implications of technological change, organizational theory, social network analysis and ethnographic field methods. Barley is currently researching corporate power in the United States, the rhetorical history of entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence and work, and how successful entrepreneurs build organizations to manage their private lives.

Matt Beane, Assistant Professor, Technology Management

Beane studies deviance in work involving machine intelligence - and specifically robotics. Matt has done extensive field research in settings such as robotic pick and pack work in fulfillment centers, robotic surgery, robotic materials transport, and robotic telepresence in healthcare, elder care and knowledge work. Current research is focused on the introduction of AI-enabled robots in repetitive, manual work, including how and why organizations and front-line workers are adapting particularly constructively to these technologies.

Gary S. Hansen, Associate Professor, Technology Management

Hansen joined the University of California Santa Barbara as Associate Dean for the College of Engineering to build a new educational and research program in technology management and entrepreneurship within the College of Engineering in 2003. Professor Hansen’s current teaching interests include technology-based startups and corporate intrapreneurship.  

Paul Leonardi, Professor, Ph.D. Program Faculty Director, Technology Management

Leonardi is the Ph.D. Program Director. His research, teaching, and consulting focus on helping companies to create and share knowledge more effectively. He is interested in how implementing new technologies and harnessing the power of informal social networks can help companies take advantage of their knowledge assets to create innovative products and services. He has authored more than 50 articles that have appeared in top journals across the fields of management.

Kyle Lewis, Chair and Professor, Technology Management

Lewis’ research on team performance and innovation is published in premier scholarly journals and has received international recognition. She examines the performance of teams, especially those teams engaged in knowledge work such as professional services, new product development, science and engineering, and project-based tasks. She teaches courses in leading people, managing diverse teams, and collaborative innovation. 

Nelson Phillips, Professor, Technology Management

Phillips’ research interests cut across organization theory, innovation, and technology, and he has published widely for both academics and practitioners including papers in AMJ, AMR, Annals, Organization Science, Harvard Business Review, and the Sloan Management Review. He has also written six books including Discourse Analysis (with Cynthia Hardy) and Constructing Organizational Life (with Tom Lawrence). He is currently working on a book on qualitative methods in organizational research to be published by Cambridge University Press and a book on linguistic methods in management research that will be published by Sage.
 

Renee Rottner, Assistant Professor, Technology Management

Dr. Rottner’s research and teaching focuses on innovation, particularly how innovators can improve the development of new ideas and new firms.  She has examined the dynamics of innovation in a range of settings, including Caltech spinouts, NASA projects, semiconductor startups, and Federal nanotechnology initiatives. She is currently studying these dynamics in non-US contexts, including entrepreneurship in Japan and China, as well as micro-financed businesses in India. 

Jessica J. Santana, Assistant Professor, Technology Management

Santana studies the role of networks in innovation and entrepreneurship. Her recent research explored how entrepreneurs use peers and rhetoric to navigate sensemaking and stigma following startup failure. She also investigates the relationship between innovation and ethics in contexts such as synthetic biology and cryptocurrency crowdfunding. Her work is driven by insights from organizational theory, economic sociology, social psychology, and network science. 

Mary Tripsas, Professor, Technology Management

Tripsas is a leading management scholar whose research and teaching focus on technological innovation and entrepreneurship. She studies how organizations can best adapt to new technologies that disrupt industries and ecosystems, with an emphasis on how the interplay of organizational capabilities, organizational identity, and managerial mental models shape strategic responses to technological shifts. 
 

Danielle Bovenberg, Ph.D. Student

Bovenberg earned her BA in Social Sciences with a minor in Statistics from Utrecht University in 2013 and her MSc. in Culture, Organization and Management from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2015. Her interests include organizational power, transparency in the workplace, high-risk technologies, and occupational prestige. 

Dylan Kreis, Ph.D. Student

Kreis received his MS in Information Studies from The University of Texas at Austin in 2019 and his BBA in Economics and Management Information Systems from Baylor University in 2017. His interests include the impact of new technologies on workers and the nature of work within organizations.

Roni Shen, Ph.D. Student

Shen earned her BS in Aquatic Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2011 and has since worked in fields such as fisheries management, veterinary medicine and organizational development. Her interests include the impacts of remote work on team dynamics, diversity in the tech industry, and work culture within organizations.

Virginia Leavall

Job Upon Graduating: Assistant Professor, Judge Business School, Cambridge University

Dissertation: The future isn’t what it used to be: Anticipatory organizing in the digital transformation of water infrastructure.

Primary Advisor: Paul Leonardi

In order to complete your graduate application, you will be required to upload the following four documents in your online application:

1. Statement of Purpose
2. Statement of Personal Achievements/Contributions
3. Résumé or Curriculum Vitae (CV)
4. Supplemental Document: Writing Sample

1. Statement of Purpose

Give a brief statement outlining your reasons for undertaking a graduate program, your particular area of specialization within the major field (in which you majored as an undergraduate or master's student), your past academic work, and your plans for future occupation or profession. Also include any additional information that may assist the selection committee in evaluating your preparation and aptitude for graduate study at UC Santa Barbara. In your Statement of Purpose, please clearly emphasize your research interests, experience, and goals.

2. Personal Achievements/Contributions

UC Santa Barbara is interested in a diverse and inclusive graduate student population. Please describe any aspects of your personal background, accomplishments, or achievements that you feel are important in evaluating your application for graduate study. For example, please describe if you have experienced economic challenges in achieving higher education, such as being financially responsible for family members or dependents, having to work significant hours during undergraduate schooling or coming from a family background of limited income. Please describe if you have any unusual or varied life experiences that might contribute to the diversity of the graduate group, such as fluency in other languages, experience living in bicultural communities, academic research interests focusing on cultural, societal, or educational problems as they affect underserved segments of society, or evidence of an intention to use the graduate degree toward serving disadvantaged individuals or populations.

3. Résumé or Curriculum Vitae

List your positions of employment or volunteer work/community service since high school, either full or part-time, including the hours per week worked and the nature and dates of employment or service.

4. Supplemental Document: Writing Sample

A writing sample of no more than 40 pages in length. Writing samples should be substantial papers written in English in an upper-division or graduate class.

Document Uploads

UC Santa Barbara accepts PDF and Microsoft Word (.doc and .docx) documents for upload in the online application. The maximum file size allowed is 4 MB per document. You may view and replace documents you have uploaded. Once you click the "Lock" button, you will not be able to replace what you have uploaded. Please preview each document carefully to ensure you have uploaded the correct documents. Graduate Division and departmental staff will not be able to replace documents for you once you have locked a document.

Documents must be uploaded to the online application absolutely no later than 11:59 PM Pacific Time by the application deadline. Documents received after 11:59 PM on the departmental application deadline may be considered ineligible for review, and your application may be marked as Incomplete, and therefore unreviewable, by the department. The application fee is non-refundable for incomplete applications.

Three letters of recommendation are required as part of your application (at least two from professors). You will be asked to supply the name, email address, and current institution of each recommender. Once supplied, the online application will provide instructions to each of your recommenders via email.

If you are using a Letter Service (such as Interfolio or a university career center) to submit one or more letters, you will be able to indicate this information within the recommender profile. UCSB needs a rating on our rating scale from each recommender you indicate. If the letter will come from a letter service, we will only request the necessary rating from your recommender.

Letters Submitted via Postal Mail

Online submission is the preferred method for submitting letters of recommendation. If your recommender is unable to submit a letter online, a letter of recommendation may be sent directly to the Technology Management Program address below. A Letter of Recommendation Coversheet must accompany the letter. You must still add the recommender's information to your online application.

University of California, Santa Barbara
Technology Management Program
1333 Phelps Hall, MC 5129
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5129

You are required to upload an official transcript created by your university. This transcript will be used to review and evaluate your application. Scan and upload all pages of your official transcript from this institution (including the grading scale, which may be on the backside of the transcript). The uploaded transcript must be an official transcript, produced by the university with all appropriate seals/stamps. Remove your Social Security Number by crossing/blacking out numbers before uploading (if applicable).

International Applicants: Please include your degree certificate within the same file if you have received your degree. You must upload both the original language transcript and certified English translation. English transcripts are required and must be a complete, exact and literal translation of the original transcripts. English translations must be provided by the school or an official agency.

Final/Official transcripts will be required for all applicants who are admitted and have indicated their intent to enroll at UC Santa Barbara by submitting a Statement of Intent to Register (SIR). Official transcripts must be sent to the UC Santa Barbara Graduate Division by mail directly from the school in the institution's sealed envelope. Final/Official transcripts must be received before the first day of instruction of the quarter to which you are admitted.

GRE or GMAT

For all tests, UCSB reviews only the most recent and complete set of test scores reported. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required of all applicants. Official GRE scores are those submitted directly from the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Official GRE test scores are valid for five years after the testing year in which the test was taken (July 1–June 30). The Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) will serve as an acceptable alternative. There are no minimum required GRE or GMAT scores; however the ideal applicant will score in the top 20 percent of each test. 

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS). An excellent command of written and spoken English is required prior to enrollment at UCSB.

Applicants whose native language is not English are required to take the TOEFL or the IELTS. The university minimum TOEFL score requirement is 550 when taking the paper based test (PBT) and 80 when taking the internet based test (IBT). The university minimum IELTS score for consideration is an Overall Band Score of 7. Departments may require a higher minimum score for either test. Official test score dates must be within two years from the day the applicant submits the online graduate application.

Exemptions will be considered for students who have completed an undergraduate or graduate degree at an institution whose official language of instruction is English. Applicants must provide final/official transcripts indicating (1) completion of the degree program and (2) English as the official language of instruction. Please contact the Technology Management Program if you have any questions.

TOEFL Reporting
Applicants taking the TOEFL must make arrangements directly with the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Instruct ETS to report scores to UCSB at institution code 4835.  The online application requires you to enter the Test Date and sixteen digit Registration Number found on your official Report of Scores from ETS.

IELTS Reporting
Applicants taking the IELTS must make arrangements directly with IELTS for testing and score reporting. UCSB prefers paper test reports from IELTS.  Please have paper test reports sent to the Graduate Division:

UCSB Graduate Division  
Attn: Graduate Admissions
3117 Cheadle Hall  
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2070

If you choose to have you scores reported electronically you must email using the form below with a notification that your scores have been reported online.  Provide your Centre Number, Candidate Number, and Test Date in your email. The online application requires you to enter the Centre Number, Candidate Number, and Date found on your Test Report Form from IELTS.

All applications require a non-refundable application fee of $135 for U.S. citizens and permanent residents and $155 for international applicants. No application will be processed until the application fee has been received. This fee can be paid by credit card or with a check/money order using the Check/Money Order Submission Form found on the last page of the application.

Fee Waivers
A limited number of application fee waivers are available to qualified U.S. citizens and permanent residents who demonstrate evidence of financial need or proof of participation in an undergraduate research program. McNair Scholars and Project 1000 applicants are among those eligible. Fee waivers are not available to international applicants.

You may apply for a fee waiver through the online application. This is reviewed by the Graduate Division. Graduate Division will notify you via online application if they will grant you the fee waiver request or not. Within your application, click on the Payment Information tab and scroll down to the fee waiver information. Submit your request online by selecting the option relevant to you and uploading your supporting documentation. You must submit your fee waiver request at least two weeks before the application deadline. Do not submit a fee waiver request the day before the application deadline; it will not be processed, and your application will not be reviewed.

It is important that proposed departments are notified of any changes in your address, phone number, or e-mail address during the application process. Otherwise, important notifications regarding applications, missing supporting materials, or admissions decisions may be seriously delayed or lost. Departments will notify the Graduate Division of any changes.

Please note that once your application has been submitted, you cannot make changes to the content of your online application. Please review your application carefully before submitting and print out a copy for your files.

UCSB Graduate Division FAQs

Click on the following links to find more resources from UCSB's Graduate Division:

Application Information

Graduate Application Fee

Application Processing and Status

Letters of Recommendation

GRE, MAT, TOEFL or IELTS Scores

Academic Review

Other Topics