Samford University in Birmingham announced Feb. 19 the creation of the Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership, including an endowed professorship.
The center, which will be housed in Samford’s Brock School of Business, will “better equip students, faculty and the business community with the knowledge, skills and commitment required to foster good citizenship, corporate social responsibility and moral leadership,” said Samford President Andrew Westmoreland.
Samford officials announced that John C. Knapp will be appointed as the Mann Family Professor of Ethics and Leadership and first director of the Mann Center. Knapp currently is director of the Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Westmoreland said the Mann Center was established to honor Samford alumnus Marvin Mann’s late wife of 54 years, Frances Marlin Mann. A Birmingham native, Frances Mann died in 2007.
“Frances was a gracious and caring person,” Mann said. “She was a fun-loving person who was an unusually talented and creative homemaker. She had a positive impact on everyone who knew her, and she left the world a more beautiful place.”
Westmoreland said, “Marvin Mann has been a visionary, entrepreneurial business leader during his long and distinguished career. It is fitting that we have a center at his alma mater that reflects his approach to business, family and faith, and that honors his beautiful wife and life partner, Frances, for her lifelong commitment to ethics and morality and for her support of his endeavors.”
Mann, a 1954 Samford graduate, is chairman emeritus and former CEO of Lexmark International, Inc.
Westmoreland noted that the center is positioned to strengthen ethics and leadership education throughout the university’s curricula and programs. Knapp also will carry the title university professor to reflect the university-wide emphasis on ethics education. (SU)
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