🇺🇸 UAF’s Kimberly McGinnis awarded the Harold T. Caven Professorship in Business and Finance

ALASKA- The University of Alaska is proud to announce that Kimberly McGinnis, Ph.D., assistant professor of Business Administration at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) College of Business and Security Management, has been awarded the prestigious Harold T. Caven Professorship in Business and Finance.

Awarded biennially to outstanding faculty within the UA system, the Caven Professorship supports the extension and expansion of UA’s business and finance research and outreach activities throughout Alaska.

McGinnis was selected for her proposal, “Building Alaska’s Capacity for New Venture Finance,” which expands on her work with the Alaska Angel Conference. This initiative focuses on training and developing new investors in early-stage businesses, combining locally relevant scholarship with measurable real-world outcomes. With the support of the Caven Professorship, McGinnis aims to amplify hands-on learning opportunities, connect students to meaningful employment, and strengthen Alaska’s ecosystem for start-up business financing.

Having now spent 10 years at UAF, McGinnis serves as faculty advisor to the Student Investment Fund and the Alternative Investments Club, UAF’s finance-related club for students. She regularly brings professionals from the banking and investment sectors into the classroom and leads annual finance “career treks” to connect students with industry leaders. Many of her former students now work in banking and investment roles and return to UAF to speak to classes or serve on the Student Investment Fund’s alumni board.

Her commitment extends beyond the classroom. McGinnis serves on the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s Economic Development Commission and works with the Tanana Chiefs Conference on competitive contract projects. Her academic research, including her dissertation on governance in Alaska Native Corporations and its social and financial impacts, has been recognized by top-tier conferences such as the Academy of Management and the European Group for Organizational Studies.

The Caven Professorship was established in 1974 as a permanent endowment at the UA Foundation to honor the legacy of Caven, who served as a director and vice president of First National Bank of Anchorage, now First National Bank Alaska.

For more information about the professorship and past recipients, please visit https://www.alaska.edu/foundation/about/awards.php.

The UA Foundation is an independent, nonprofit corporation established in 1974 to seek, secure and steward philanthropic support in partnership with the UA system. For more information on the UA Foundation and how to contribute, please visit www.alaska.edu/foundation.

For more information, please contact Maggie Demers, UA Foundation director of communications and public relations (907-450-8039 or [email protected]).

Originally published on 25 July by University of Alaska.

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