Elon business school honors students, faculty and staff at awards program
Elon’s business school honored graduating seniors and faculty in LaRose Digital Theatre, spotlighting the talent pipeline feeding Alamance County employers.
Elon University’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business filled LaRose Digital Theatre in the Ernest A. Koury Sr. Business Center on April 23 with a ceremony that recognized graduating seniors, faculty and staff for academic achievement, teaching, research and service. The annual program put student success and employee contributions side by side, underscoring how much of the school’s reputation rests on both classroom performance and the people who keep the business program moving.
The awards reached well beyond grades alone. Elon’s business school highlights a model that is “personal, hands-on, and built for impact,” and the recognition program reflected that approach with honors tied to leadership, scholarship and service as well as accounting and sales achievement. The school says 77% of its students take part in immersive study-abroad or Study USA experiences, a marker of how often Elon tries to pair coursework with real-world learning. Internships, case competitions, faculty-guided projects, leadership roles and service work are woven through many majors, which makes the awards program a snapshot of the kind of practical experience students are expected to build before graduation.
Faculty and staff were also publicly acknowledged for the work that supports those outcomes. The school’s annual awards structure includes Excellence in Teaching, Exemplary Service, Excellence in Scholarship and a Staff Excellence Award, reflecting the range of responsibilities that shape the student experience. Among the names associated with the school’s recognition and faculty updates are Diane Swenson, Haya Ajjan, Margarita Kaprielyan, Mark Kurt, Brenda Crutchfield, Shannon Kimball, Devon Hawkins, Scott Oakes, Chris Harris, KC Kasserman, Mustafa Akben and Chris Nelson.
The timing of the ceremony also fits a familiar spring rhythm at Elon. Endowed scholarship applications are typically due in March, recipients are notified in April and awards are applied to the following academic year, making late April a key moment for students, donors and the school itself. The awards tradition has also returned in recent years, with similar ceremonies held in 2023, 2024 and 2025. For Alamance County, the event is more than campus pageantry: it is a read on the university’s institutional health and on the students most likely to move into local employers, startups and professional networks after graduation.
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