The Martha and Spencer Love Foundation has established two annual awards of $6,000 each to recognize undergraduate business students at Elon University who exhibit exceptional leadership qualities. Details...
The Love Awards for Excellence in Business Leadership will be given annually to a male and female student in Elon’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. Recipients will demonstrate excellence and unusual promise for further development in intellect, character, moral courage and leadership.
Recipients of The Love Awards will design and complete a leadership project grounded in one or more of the Elon Experiences, which include service learning, internships, study abroad, leadership development and student undergraduate research. Projects will have clearly defined objectives and tangible results and will culminate with a written report and public presentation to business faculty members and students.
Pictured above, in front of their father’s portrait in the Koury Business Center, are Julian Love, Charles Love, Spencie Love, Lela Love and Martin Love.
The idea for the awards was presented during the foundation’s December board meeting in the new Koury Business Center on campus, which is home to the Love School of Business. It was the first time the board had met on the Elon campus since 1985.
“We believe these awards will inspire some of Elon’s best business students to further develop their leadership skills,” said Charles Love, foundation president and one of Martha and Spencer Love’s four children. “Students who receive these awards will have excelled not only as students, but outside the classroom as citizens who are committed to improving their communities.”
“I am grateful to the Love family for their commitment to Elon students,” said John Burbridge, dean of the Love School of Business. “The Love Awards will establish a standard of creativity and excellence that will inspire others.”
Spencer Love (1896-1962) founded Burlington Mills, Inc., in 1924, and the company later became Burlington Industries. A fierce competitor, Spencer Love invested heavily in new technology and production methods to make his mills more efficient and productive. A 1917 Harvard graduate who served in the Army during World War I, Love began his career in textile manufacturing in 1919 as the paymaster at his uncle’s Gastonia Cotton Manufacturing Co.
Martha Love (1911-1980) graduated from Agnes Scott College and Simmons College. She worked in personnel management with J.B. Ivey Co., in Charlotte and also served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. The couple established the Love Foundation in 1947 and made their first gift to Elon in 1952. In 1985, the foundation made a major gift to name the business school at Elon the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.
“The Martha and Spencer Love Foundation’s initial visionary gift in the 1980s transformed Elon’s business program and allowed it to become a nationally recognized business school worthy of AACSB accreditation,” said Jo Watts Williams, special assistant to the president and a longtime friend of the Love family. “The university is honored and I am delighted by this new gift from the Love family, which demonstrates their interest and faith in Elon.”