Southern Methodist University has announced a $2 million gift from Cary M. Maguire to endow the directorship of the ethics center he helped establish.

Made in support of the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, the gift will endow the William F. May Endowed Directorship, named in honor of the center's founding director, who served in that capacity from 1995 to 1998. With the goal of recognizing, honoring, and modeling ethical behavior and providing moral reflection on contemporary issues, the center supports ethics-related education and activities for students and faculty, as well as outreach to the community and public and private institutions.

May, who joined SMU in 1985 as the first Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics, a position he held until 2001, established many of the center's programs, including the Public Service Fellowship Program, which provides financial assistance for students to engage in research or public service in the field of ethics; the Maguire Teaching Fellowship Program, which supports cross-disciplinary teaching and course development in the area of ethics; and the Maguire Public Scholars Program, a lecture series. The inaugural William F. May Endowed Directorship will be held by Rita Kirk, who has served as the center's director since 2011.

Maguire is chairman, president, and CEO of Maguire Oil Company; chairman of Components of America and Staco Systems, Inc.; a trustee emeritus of SMU; and a member of the center's advisory board, the Maguire Energy Institute advisory board, and the Edwin L. Cox School of Business executive board. He and his late wife, SMU alumna Ann Thompson Maguire ('52), established the Maguire Chair in Oil and Gas Management in the Cox School, and have provided funds for scholarships, faculty incentive funds, and various initiatives across the university.

"Cary Maguire's gifts to SMU always have been transformative," said SMU president R. Gerald Turner. "His commitment to the William F. May Endowed Directorship will position the Maguire Center for future excellence while permanently linking Bill May's name with both the center he founded and the field to which he devoted his illustrious career."