On September 25, 2006 UDM's McNichols Campus Library hosted the panel discussion, "A Conversation in the Traditions of Catherine McAuley and Ignatius of Loyola." The presentation was part of UDM's celebration of the 175th Anniversary of the Sisters of Mercy.

Panelists included:

• Mary Kelly, RSM, associate professor of Health Services/Health Services Administration
• Helen Marie Burns, RSM, member of UDM's Board of Trustees, former Vice President of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and Vice President of Mission Integration at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania
• Walter L. Farrell, S.J., assistant for Finances, Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus

On Sept. 27, 2006, Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., visited UDM and gave a presentation titled "Tattoos on the Heart: Creating Community in a Diverse World."

Fr. Boyle is the founder/ executive director of Jobs For A Future/Homeboy Industries, an employment referral center and economic development program in Los Angeles. Begun in 1988 for at-risk and gang-involved youth, Jobs For A Future is today a nationally-recognized center that assists 1,000 people a month in redirecting their lives.

His life mission was to create businesses that provide training, work experience, and above all, the opportunity for rival gang members to work side by side.

With former gang members' help, he has created a number of economic development enterprises including Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy / Homegirl Merchandise, Homeboy Graffiti Removal, Homeboy Maintenance, Homeboy Landscaping and the Homegirl Cafe.

On Sept. 28, 2006, Fr. Boyle also joined the UDM community for "Celebrate Spirit," a yearly University event welcoming people of all faiths to ask God's blessings on the new school year. Fr. Boyle was the Homilist for the event.

Fr. Boyle was born in Los Angeles. He received his B.A. in English from Gonzaga University, M.A. in English from Loyola Marymount University, Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology, and an STM degree from the Jesuit School of Theology.

The Very Reverend Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, visited UDM in October, 2006 to celebrate the Jesuit Jubilee Year 2006.  Father General Kolvenbach is the highest ranking Jesuit priest in the world.

Traveling from the Jesuit Curia Generalizia in Rome, Father General Kolvenbach gave the address, "Christ in the City," Oct. 6 in Gesu Church, near UDM's McNichols Campus.

Father General Kolvenbach reflects on the mission of Christ – a mission we are invited to take part in – which happens in the city of Detroit, especially from the perspective of the educational mission of UDM and its role in the city.

Father General Kolvenbach's remarks are preceded with a five minute introduction by UDM President Gerard L. Stockhausen, S.J. 

Larry Keeley, co-founder and president of Doblin Inc., gives the Ford Innovation Symposium presentation, "How Detroit and the Auto Industry Can Innovate Themselves to Prosperous Futures," as part of University of Detroit Mercy's 2006 Founders Week, Sept. 28 at UDM.

Keeley is an innovation strategist whose goals include identifying the root causes of innovation failure and injecting better methods.  Keeley has worked with a wide variety of pioneering enterprises since 1979, among them Aetna, Apple, Citigroup, ExxonMobil, Hallmark, McDonald's, Motorola, Pfizer, Steelcase, Texas Instruments, and Zurich Financial Services.

Keeley's presentation is preceded by an introduction Derrick M. Kuzak, group vice president for Product Development, The Americas, Ford Motor Company.

John Staudenmaier, S.J., UDM's assistant to the president for Mission and Identity, presented this talk as part of a special series on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola.  Some ideas discussed include:

Americans are, for the most part, better at strategy (planning, then executing the plan, then assessing success or failure) than at intimacy (grieving, rejoicing, savoring beauty, resting when tired). There's good and bad in that for sure.

No planning and no sense of urgency lead to gradually dying. But no intimacy wears out the inner spirit, which is the source of an adult's energy for living. The Spiritual Exercise teaches a method of prayer in which I learn to be present to the griefs of my life and the joys of my life.

It stems back to Ignatius' dictum, "I will stay there (at some place of grief or joy) until I have been satisfied." The Spiritual Exercise understands all true strategies, our purposeful commitments, as flowing from our intimate experiences of God and God's love for the world. This may be the most helpful single rule of prayer in the Spiritual Exercise for adult citizens of contemporary U.S. society.

Taco Bell President and Chief Concept Officer Emil J. Brolick '69 '72, doesn't profess to be a leadership expert, but he has learned that "each of us has the capacity for leadership. Leaders are made – not born – by themselves, more than external circumstances."

Brolick spoke March 16, 2006, as part of the College of Business Administration's Alumni Week.  Brolick has nearly 30 years of experience in product development, marketing and business planning, 20 years of which are in the restaurant industry. Prior to joining Taco Bell's parent company YUM! Brands, Brolick served for 12 years as Senior Vice President of New Product Marketing in Research & Strategic Planning for Wendy's International, Inc.

Brolick is credited as one of the primary architects of Wendy's 1988 turnaround and developed their "superior brand" strategy while launching a series of successful new products. Additionally, he serves as Chairman of the Taco Bell Foundation, which has contributed over $15 million to support the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Brolick received both his B.A. and his M.A. in Economics from the University of Detroit.

Ford Motor Company Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for The Americas Anne Stevens spoke at University of Detroit Mercy's Clare Booth Luce Scholarship Reception, March 14, 2006.

Stevens has the distinction of being both the first female executive vice president and the first female plant manager in Europe at Ford. She has previously served as both Group Vice President for Canada, Mexico and South America, Vice President for North America Vehicle Operations, and Vice President of North America Assembly Operations.

In 2004, Stevens was named a member of the National Academy of Engineering and honored with a distinguished service citation from the Automotive Hall of Fame. She has been named four times to Fortune magazine's list of "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" and was named by Automotive News as a 2005 "Leading Woman in the North American Automotive Industry." In 2006, Motor Trend nominated her to the "Power List" of the top 50 people in the automotive industry. Stevens was one of just two women to make the list.

The Clare Booth Luce Program provides full tuition, room and board for female students completing their junior and senior years of study in Mathematics and Computer Science, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering. This program affords students the opportunity to engage in professional development, research, and writing, as well as peer mentoring.

John Staudenmaier, S.J., UDM's assistant to the president for Mission and Identity, presented this talk as part of his series on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. In this talk, Fr. Staudenmaier reflects on the following ideas:

How, through my adult life, do I decide when to stick with the commitments I already have and when to change some of those commitments?

Adults make such changes all the time: taking a new job, leaving our home and buying another, getting married, choosing a new career, driving up north for the weekend instead of staying home, pausing in the mid-morning's work to get a cup of coffee… large and small changes of one's present set of commitments; humans do this a lot.

But adults also stick with commitments a lot: we will stay in our home at this address; we will stay married even though it is hard; I will stick with my career; I will keep working on this task (and not go out for a cup of coffee now). The Spiritual Exercise teaches a method for discerning when to stick and when to change, about small and large matters.