Elon University / Today at Elon / Steve DeLoach named a ‘Best Undergraduate Business School Professor’

The Martha and Spencer Love Professor of Economics receives recognition in Poets&Quants’ Top 50 professors list for 2021.

Steve DeLoach, Martha and Spencer Love Professor of Economics, is honored in Poets&Quants’ “Top 50 Best Undergraduate Business School Professors of 2021” feature.

Steve DeLoach smiling
Professor Steve DeLoach is among Poets&Quants’ Top 50 Best Undergraduate Business Professors for 2021.

The business education news outlet received nominations from 1,195 students, alumni, colleagues and school deans. Professors were evaluated on their research and teaching accolades. Factors considered include the volume of a professor’s Google Scholar citations, research awards, media attention and teaching awards.

DeLoach joined Elon in 1996 and serves as chair of the Department of Economics as well as the co-faculty advisor for the Issues in Political Economy undergraduate research journal. He received the Love School of Business Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2016 and Elon University’s Distinguished Scholar Award in 2014. He was named Professor of the Year by Elon’s chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma in 2016.

“Dr. DeLoach supported me through every step of the research process–crafting my research question, finding data, writing code, interpreting results, communicating my findings, and preparing for presentations and publication,” wrote Michaela Fogarty ’19, who DeLoach mentored during her senior year. “He encouraged me to create a thesis that I am proud to submit to journals for publication.”

DeLoach’s current research streams include examining the impact of microfinance and looking at the role personality plays in young adult workers’ decisions to switch occupations.

His scholarship has been published in journals including the Journal of International Money and Finance, World Development, the Journal of Development Studies and the Journal of Economics Education, and has been cited in national and international media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, the Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Freakonomics Blog, The Economic Times and CBS News.

In response to Poets&Quants asking him what he wished he was told before starting his career as a business school professor, he replied, “How much fun it would be to teach. Most faculty at research universities and in graduate school think research is fun and teaching is necessary. I have found both research and teaching are stimulating and bring me joy and meaning.”

Read DeLoach’s Poets&Quants profile here.

Steve DeLoach named a ‘Best Undergraduate Business School Professor’