Fellowships in Applied Ethics

The American College Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services provides several fellowship opportunities to explore diverse research topics at the intersection of ethics and financial services.

Our signature fellowship is the Maguire Fellowship in Applied Ethics, which is a program that supports an individual or individuals working on meaningful research focused on the financial services industry. This research aims to foster productive engagement with industry groups, the academic community and regulatory agencies by enabling leaders to recognize the individual and systems-level factors that can help raise the level of ethical behavior in the financial services industry.

Research conducted by our Fellows and Scholars is disseminated in multiple forums and formats, including through our events, in industry-facing publications, as well as peer-reviewed journals.

Our Fellows and Scholars are respected researchers and practitioners who have successfully demonstrated their expertise and skills to communicate complex theories and data-driven insights to a broad audience. If you are interested in a fellowship opportunity, please contact our Executive Director with your resume and a brief note about your background and research interests.

 



2022-2023 Maguire Fellows

 

Jason M. Pattit, PhD

Jason Pattit is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of St. Thomas, where he teaches in various MBA programs about how companies can protect human dignity, promote well-being, and contribute to the common good. His recent research has been published in Business and Society Review, the Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, and the Strategic Management Review. Jason is also an Associate Editor and the Special Issues Editor for Business and Society Review, and he is currently a Representative-At-Large for the Social Issues in Management division of the Academy of Management.

 

 

Katherina G. Pattit, PhD

Katherina Pattit is the Dean of the Herberger Business School at St. Cloud State University. Prior to joining HBS, Dr. Pattit was a professor and department chair in Ethics and Business Law at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. She holds a Ph.D. in Business Ethics and Law from the Wharton School of Business.

Dr. Pattit’s research examines topics related to investor decision making, particularly in the context of socially responsible investing, as well as the influence of shareholders on corporate social responsibility. Beyond ethical decision making, Dr. Pattit writes about business ethics more generally and the history and future of business education. Her research is published in leading publications such as the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Behavioral Finance, Business and Society, Business and Society Review, Business and Professional Ethics Journal, Journal of Comparative International Management, and other leading international journals.

 

 



Leadership Strategy Fellow &
2020-2022 Maguire Fellow

 

Dr. Caterina Bulgarella

Dr. Bulgarella is an organizational psychologist with deep expertise in organizational culture and behavioral ethics. Her academic and applied research work includes the study of self-regulation and self-control processes, leadership behavior, employee engagement, organizational trust, conduct risk, teamwork and collaboration, conflict and negotiation, and work meaning. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with senior leaders to build high-performance culture practices, ethical leadership, and purposeful work, by integrating scientific insights and applied best practices. 

Dr. Bulgarella holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from New York University. She serves on the I/O Psychology Master’s program at New York University (NYU), and she is a member of the Ethical Systems’ core research team. She regularly contributes with her writing and talks about culture, ethics, and leadership to a number of different fora.

 



ESG Fellow

 

Douglas K. Chia

Douglas K. Chia is President of Soundboard Governance LLC and Fellow at the Rutgers Center for Corporate Law and Governance.

Mr. Chia was previously Executive Director of The Conference Board ESG Center and continues to contribute to The Conference Board as an ESG Center Fellow. He is also a Fellow at The Aspen Institute Business & Society Program, Advisor to Foresight BoardOps, and Advisory Board Member of the ESG Professionals Network and PracticalESG.com.

Before joining The Conference Board, Mr. Chia served as Assistant General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Johnson & Johnson. Previously, he served as Assistant General Counsel, Corporate of Tyco International and practiced law at the global firms Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Clifford Chance in New York and Hong Kong.

Mr. Chia has held a number of central leadership positions in the corporate governance field, including Chair of the Board of the Society for Corporate Governance, President of the Stockholder Relations Society of New York, and member of the New York Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Commission. He is currently a member of the Corporate Laws Committee of the American Bar Association, American Law Institute, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and Ascend Pan-Asian Leaders. Mr. Chia has received numerous awards and recognitions in corporate governance and has frequently appeared in the news media, including CNN, NPR Marketplace, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fortune, and The New Yorker.

Mr. Chia received an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College and a J.D. degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Chia is a Trustee and Vice President for Governance of the Historical Society of Princeton and member of the Dartmouth College Fund Committee. He lives with his family in Princeton, New Jersey.

 

 

Scholar-in-Residence

 

Sophia Duffy, JD, CPA

Sophia Duffy is an Assistant Professor of Business Planning at The American College of Financial Services, as well as Assistant Vice President and Director of Regulatory Compliance. Professor Duffy teaches in both the Huebner School and the Irwin Graduate School. She began her academic career at The College in 2012, and remains an instructor for a number of classes.

Prior to joining The College, Duffy was a senior auditor for several years, providing audit and compliance oversight for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Aramark, and the University of Pennsylvania. She received her Juris Doctorate (JD) from the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law in 2012, and her Bachelor of Science (BS) in Accounting from Rutgers University in 2002. She is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Her research for the Maguire Center for Ethics explores the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning by companies in the financial services industry, and addresses emerging regulatory and ethical frameworks that can help advance access to financial services while balancing the potential for unintended consequences, such as discrimination against communities of color.

 

 

 

Past Fellows

 

2016-2018 Fellow

 

Kevin Gibson

Dr. Kevin Gibson is a professor of philosophy at Marquette University in the Klinger College of Arts and Sciences. He served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Philosophy for six years, as Director of the Center for Ethics Studies from 2001 to 2012, and most recently as the Interim Dean of the Graduate School. He also teaches business ethics in the College of Business Administration. Born in the United Kingdom, Gibson was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and served as an infantry officer before earning his BA (Hons) in philosophy in 1980 at Sussex University. He moved to the United States, where he attended Harvard University and received an EdM in Administration and Social Policy in 1985. He trained with the Harvard Mediation Project, and has worked as a professional mediator and trainer. At the University of Colorado, Boulder, Gibson earned an MA in philosophy in 1989 and a PhD in philosophy in 1991, with a focus on ethics and contemporary issues. Gibson joined Marquette’s faculty in 1995. During his time at Marquette, the Executive MBA Program has awarded him the Excellence in Executive Education Award six times. He was a recipient of the Helen Way Klinger Humanities Fellowship in 2008. Gibson’s research concentration is the study of ethics, widely understood as the way that we treat one another and the world around us. He is the author of two major textbooks: Introduction to Ethics (Pearson Press, 2013) and Business and Ethics: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2007). He has also authored or co-authored more than 30 scholarly articles. His most recent research deals with issues of valuing community and the environment when discussing issues of sustainability.

 

 

2015-2016 Fellows

 

CiAuna Heard

CiAuna Heard is one of the Maguire Fellows as well as a qualitative research associate for The American College Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services. CiAuna received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley in 2010 and a Master of Arts in Sociology from Temple University in 2014. CiAuna is working on a PhD in Sociology at Temple University. Her dissertation, entitled “New Forms of Social Reproduction: How Minority Elites Engage Intersectionality,” focuses on the role of culture in the social reproduction of salient group identities.

 

Katherine Mielitz

Katherine (Kate) S. Mielitz, AFC® provides financial literacy education to transitioning inmates and recovering substance abusers at local Georgia Department of Corrections facilities. She also works on an "as needed" basis for Zeiders Enterprises and Military OneSource, providing financial counseling and education to soldiers and their families. Kate received her BA in Broadcasting and MA in Communications from the University of Wyoming. She currently attends Kansas State University in pursuit of her PhD in Personal Financial Planning. Kate’s primary area of research interest is financial literacy and the incarcerated and she will be focusing her dissertation in this area.

 

Kamal Smimou

Dr. Smimou’s consulting and research interests primarily focus on the application of theoretical models and empirical studies in portfolio theory and asset pricing, commodity markets, international finance, and market microstructure. Some of his work is also framed within the cross-disciplinary of ethics and finance. He is an Associate Professor of Finance in the Faculty of Business at University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Canada). He obtained his undergraduate degree in statistics, and subsequently a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in finance from the University of Central Oklahoma (USA). For his PhD degree in Management (Finance), Dr. Smimou moved farther north to the University of Manitoba where his work earned him a Distinguished Dissertation Award. He has contributed articles to high-quality theoretical and practitioner-oriented journals such as Emerging Markets Review, Journal of Alternative Investments, Managerial Finance, International Review of Financial Analysis, European Journal of Operational Research, and Applied Financial Economics. Additionally, he has been a regular ad-hoc reviewer of the Business Ethics: A European Review and many well-respected finance/economics and international business journals. He teaches Portfolio and Investment Strategies, International Finance, Financial Management, and Personal Finance in undergraduate and graduate programs.

 

Derek Tharp

Derek Tharp is a financial planner in Cedar Rapids, IA. Derek received his bachelor's degree in finance and his master's degree in family financial planning from Iowa State University. He is currently pursuing his PhD in personal financial planning from Kansas State University. Derek has been quoted in financial publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Derek is also a co-author of a chapter in the textbook Financial Therapy: Theory, Research, and Practice.

 

 

2009-2015 Fellow

 

Anthony H. Catanach, Jr.

Dr. Catanach’s consulting and research interests relate primarily to financial statement analysis and reporting, business risk management, and audit issues. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Business at Villanova University. He has previously served on the faculties of the University of Virginia and INSEAD. He obtained his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of New Mexico and his Ph.D. from Arizona State University. Dr. Catanach has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant since 1980 and a Certified Management Accountant since 1991. He is also the author of the Grumpy Old Accountants blog, which is devoted to financial transparency and ethical reporting. His blog has received accolades from various sources, including, among others, Edudemic, Mick Weinstein of the Trading Deck at MarketWatch of the Wall Street Journal, and The Top Business Degrees website.