UDM’s Cavanagh Fund to provide grants around the world

Shortly before his death in 2022, Gerald F. Cavanagh, S.J., proposed the creation of a fund to sponsor research on solutions to society's most difficult problems.

Four years later, his vision is taking shape.

University of Detroit Mercy's (UDM) Center for Practice & Research in Management & Ethics (PRIME Center) will be giving more than $50,000 in grants through the Cavanagh Fund for Ethical Solutions to Social Problems.

The fund is named for Cavanagh, a Jesuit priest who spent more than four decades ministering at UDM and was a longtime professor in its College of Business Administration (CBA). He is considered a founder of the field of business ethics.

In its first year, the Cavanagh Fund received 30 proposals from more than 20 countries. Each proposal was required to be from a team consisting of at least one business practitioner, one academic and one student, with a specific societal problem being addressed.

This year's top two proposals will be fully funded, with two others receiving partial funding.

"I am incredibly proud of the response we received to this first call for proposals," said Diego Arias, an assistant professor and Charles T. Fisher III Chair of Business Ethics at UDM. "This global response is how we honor Fr. Cavanagh's legacy in the most meaningful way possible, and it sends a powerful message to the world - instead of 'Detroit Vs. Everybody,' what this fund is proving is that Detroit is for everybody."

The top-ranked proposal seeks to create fair and inclusive labor pathways for informally educated youth in Africa. Led by faculty and practitioners from Nigeria and England, the project will receive nearly $20,000.

The second-ranked proposal will support women in the agricultural economy of India, whose exclusion from land ownership, credit and decision-making is intensified by male migration, land dispossession, low literacy, unpaid labor and wage inequality. That project will receive $18,500 in funding.

A project that focuses on creating global supply chains in developing countries, led by a team from the United States and India, will receive $8,470 in funding.

Rounding out the proposals is a team from Denmark, Saudi Arabia and the U.S., which will receive $4,235 to investigate approaches to empowering women within family-owned business in Saudi Arabia.

Money being disbursed by the Cavanagh Fund was provided by alumni and other people who hope to see the work of Fr. Cavanagh continue.

"I'm deeply grateful that our donors have enabled us to sponsor these projects, which will substantially impact lives around the globe," said Joseph G. Eisenhauer, dean of UDM's CBA. "It's especially gratifying that these initiatives relate to our Jesuit and Mercy values, which include paying special attention to the marginalized, women and youth."

Arias convened a review panel of business leaders to review and score proposals for the Cavanagh Fund.

"The Cavanagh Fund is a natural extension of the PRIME Center's mission to bring the business and academic communities together in the pursuit of effective and ethical management," said Evan Peterson, director of the PRIME Center, which oversees the Cavanagh Fund. "This initiative reflects Fr. Cavanagh's conviction that business can be a force for positive societal change by supporting practical, collaborative research directed toward real social problems."

Cavanagh was a welcoming and friendly face on the McNichols Campus for 42 years. He worked at Detroit Mercy until shortly before his death, serving as a professor of business management (1980-88); academic vice-president and provost (1988-95); the holder of the Charles Fisher Chair of Business Ethics (1995-2004); the interim dean of the College of Business Administration (2008-10); and a professor of management (2010-22).

The call for proposals for next year is expected to be available in August.

Learn more about the Cavanagh Fund and pledge support for future proposals.