Impact

The Martha & Spencer Love School of Business has named two new associate deans who begin their roles in the 2025-2026 academic year.

Associate Dean for Faculty Development & Student Success: Margarita Kaprielyan is an equity-minded finance professor who now leads faculty mentoring and promotion processes, coordinates student-success initiatives with the Porter Family Professional Development Center, and directs high-impact experiences such as Lessons from Leaders speaker series, executive-in-residence program and the school’s new venture incubator.

Associate Dean for Curriculum & Academic Programming: Mark Kurt is an economics professor and global-education leader who now oversees all graduate programs and the undergraduate core, manages assurance of learning, and extends the school’s footprint through the semester in Singapore, Charlotte National Campus and 3+1 accelerated pathways.

Dean Haya Ajjan describes the complementary roles as “the best of both worlds” with an administrative structure that “pairs people-centered mentoring with bold curricular growth.”

Elon University’s Board of Trustees surprised Dean Emeritus Raghu Tadepalli in April 2025 by renaming the university’s Student Investment Fund in his honor.

The Dean Raghu G. Tadepalli Student Investment Fund mirrors Tadepalli’s vision for “engaged, real-world education,” said Elon President Connie Ledoux Book, who noted how the fund trains students in portfolio management and security analysis while fueling career readiness.

Board Chair Dave Porter praised Tadepalli’s impact: three perfect AACSB reaccreditations, national recognition in Poets&Quants, and enrollment gains powered by high-demand majors like business analytics and financial technology. The number of faculty climbed from 44 to 71, graduate offerings expanded with accelerated programs, and new centers for financial literacy and organizational analytics deepened corporate partnerships.

“His standards and innovation leave a legacy that will benefit every future Elon business graduate,” Porter said.

Poets&Quants now ranks Elon’s Love School of Business No. 38 overall – No. 17 for academic experience, No. 24 for career outcomes (and among private universities), and No. 54 for admissions standards.

“Our ascent proves engaged, world-ready learning delivers real results,” says Dean Haya Ajjan.

Elon University is preparing students and faculty to collaborate responsibly with artificial intelligence. Assistant Professor of Management and Director of Artificial Intelligence Integration Mustafa Akben is leading this effort through initiatives that make AI accessible, ethical and impactful across disciplines.

Highlights from the year include:

• Designing for Ethical and Effective AI Usage: A hands-on workshop with the Center for Design Thinking that helps students learn when and how to use AI as a creative and ethical partner.
• AI Pedagogy Challenge: A campus-wide call for faculty to share innovative ideas for integrating AI into teaching, with top projects featured at a spring showcase.
• AI @ Elon Hub: A comprehensive online resource offering tools, training and research materials to support responsible AI use across campus.
• Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence: A global resource created with the American Association of Colleges and Universities, now adopted by thousands of institutions to promote ethical and effective AI literacy.
  Together, these initiatives reflect Elon’s leadership in shaping an AI-ready world.

Business Analytics Day 2025 turned Koury Business Center into a one-day tech hub where students worked alongside data pros to probe real problems.

Morning panels paired executives from Crumbl Cookies, RTI International and Cone Health with curious undergrads who pressed them on AI ethics, talent pipelines and rapid-fire innovation.

The headline event was a live HanesBrands case challenge: nine student teams had four hours to design an AI tool that spots apparel trends before they hit. After judges evaluated data integrity and return on investment, first prize went to the team of Robert Barcello ’25, Craig Brandstetter ’25 and Dominic Mazza ’25 for a “Hanes Style Index” that blends velocity and sentiment data to forecast demand three seasons ahead.

Hands-on workshops kept the emphasis on actionable skills. Assistant Professor Mustafa Akben led a crash course in generative-AI coding, while Dean Haya Ajjan led a networking session with alumni.
“Mentorship and innovation go hand in hand,” Ajjan said. “Students left with contacts and a clearer sense of where their skills can make an impact.”

Baystate Financial executive and Elon trustee Dave Porter P’11 P’19 received Elon University’s highest honor for entrepreneurship in an April 2025 ceremony where he was described as “a model of innovation, integrity and people-first leadership.”

The Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership was bestowed on Porter by Elon University President Connie Ledoux Book and Dean Raghu Tadepalli in one of his final public presentations before concluding his deanship.

The Elon Medal Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership is co-presented by the Love School of Business and the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Since 2009, it has been given to an entrepreneur who is a leader in industry and who exemplifies the values of Elon University.
Since becoming a managing partner in 1996, Porter has grown Baystate Financial from under $1 million in revenue to 16 offices across New England. His playbook is direct: “Promise integrity and hire people who keep those promises.”

Porter told students at the medal presentation that each morning delivers “a chance and a choice.”
“Choose comfort and you’ll be comfortable for a while,” he said. “Choose discipline and you’ll change your future.” He proved it as a teenager, driving 150 miles to appeal a college rejection and leaving with an acceptance scrawled on the original denial – evidence, he said, that anyone can “own the outcome.”

Gratitude anchors his routine. Porter writes three handwritten thank-you notes before work every day, a habit that has filled seven storage crates of replies. “A simple note can change the trajectory of someone’s day,” he insisted, urging future entrepreneurs to pair appreciation with speed: “Fix errors fast, learn and move on smarter.”

Footwear icon Stuart Weitzman captivated a full house at Elon Feb. 26, 2025, greeting students at the door and recruiting a few to model his most celebrated heels during his retirement tour.
He traced his path from family factory floors to red-carpet fame, crediting the moment “Aretha Franklin waved a pair of my shoes on live TV—’beautiful and comfortable,’ she said. Six weeks later every stylist in Hollywood was calling.”

From that spark, he leaned into fearless design and standout marketing. “If they’re not copying you, you’re doing something wrong,” he said, recalling a Clio-winning ad whose Dalmatian spots formed tiny shoes and a Vogue Halloween spread featuring a pumpkin carved with a stiletto grin. “An ad should create a moment, not just show a product.”

Weitzman’s rapid-fire “Stu-isms” included:

• Work somewhere else first—confidence comes from experience.”
• “Hire nice, then hire smart—you can teach skills, not kindness.”
• “Take the road less traveled; rules and fear crush imagination.”
• Anything in life needs support—just like a great shoe.”

Student models showcased a leopard-crystal pump favored by Taylor Swift, the famed “million-dollar shoes,” and a Cara Delevingne-inspired sandal. Weitzman smiled: “Glamour matters, but comfort is the mark of real design.”