One Love Foundation’s Sharon Donnelly Love to speak on dating/domestic violence

Loyola University Maryland will hold the 31st annual Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture with speaker Sharon Donnelly Love, co-founder and spokesperson of the One Love Foundation, which works to empower young people to identify healthy and unhealthy relationships and prevent dating and domestic violence. The lecture, “One Love: A Conversation with Sharon Donnelly Love,” will take place Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. in Loyola’s McGuire Hall. 

Love, who lost her daughter Yeardley when she was killed by her ex-boyfriend—a fellow college student—in 2010, will share her experience as well as videos to help identify physical and emotional abuse in relationships. She will cover signs of abuse, what to do if experiencing abuse and how to help friends who are in unhealthy relationships. Professionals from the Counseling Center will be on hand during the lecture as a resource. 

“I didn’t know then what I know now, that relationship abuse is a public health epidemic and that young women in Yeardley’s age group are at three times greater risk than any other demographic,” Love said. 

Love co-founded One Love with her daughter Lexie to honor Yeardley’s positive spirit. She has steered the foundation toward prevention strategies after learning more about the issue in the wake of Yeardley’s death. Love had a 25-year career in Baltimore City Public Schools teaching hearing-impaired students before retiring in 2013 to work on One Love full time. 

Love has reached groups of students at every age level, professionals in the relationship violence arena and politicians on both a local and national level. The Loyola Women’s Center and women’s lacrosse team partner with the One Love Foundation to provide education to students, and other athletic teams have received One Love training. One Love films have also been shown in undergraduate and graduate counseling courses at Loyola. 

A Resource Fair with on- and off-campus resources will be held after the lecture. 

The Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture is free and open to the public. To learn more and register to attend, visit Loyola.edu/join-us/cleophas-lecture. 

Students who are in need of support or services related to dating/domestic violence or unhealthy relationships should reach out to the Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance, the Women’s Center, the Counseling Center, Student Health Services, or the Department of Public Safety. 

About the Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture Series:
Founded in the early 1980s and named in honor of the late Sister Mary Cleophas Costello, RSM, former president of Mount Saint Agnes College, which joined with Loyola University Maryland in 1971, the Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture features addresses by prominent women who embody the ideals Sr. Cleophas espoused, including scholarship, leadership, and artistic ability. Previous Sister Cleophas Costello lecturers have included authors Amy Tan, Mary Higgins Clark, and Piper Kerman, poet Maya Angelou, Olympian Gabby Douglas, activist Elizabeth Smart, activist Tarana Burke, and Paralympian McKenzie Coan, ’18.