Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Kathleen Love

Dr. Kathleen Love, chair of the criminal justice and sociology departments, recently won the William Brian Moody Leader Award from Charleston Leaders, in recognition of her achievement in community work.

Prior to joining the CSU family in 2017, Love was a member of the North Charleston Police Department for 22 years. She also supervised all North Charleston School Resource Officers, was active with People against Rape and serves on the board for Project H.O.M.E. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from CSU and a PhD in business administration from North Central University.

Nominated for the award by Dr. Jackie Fish, vice president for academic affairs, Love said Fish was her mentor and professor during her master’s studies. “Dr. Fish pushed and believed in me to further my education to receive my PhD,” said Love. She said, leaders in the field of criminal justice must lead by example. “In criminal justice, you do not have room for mistakes because you can take someone’s freedom and life,” she said.

Love said, “My life changed working at CSU with wonderful people who pray for all good things. When something is going wrong with someone I know or myself there is a whole team of people who will stop and pray. I saw many crime scenes and negative things in policing, and one thing that got me through is my ability to help others in a time of need. I have that at CSU all the time.”