By Todd Wilkinson, special to the News Service, and Tracy Ellig, MSU News Service
BOZEMAN – Gallatin Valley residents Kathy Crawford and her late husband, Thomas H. “Tim” Crawford, both credited early exposure to the natural world for firing their passion to protect wildlife and the vital habitat it needs. Over the years they always tried to ignite the power of caring in younger generations.
Now, roughly two years after Tim passed away in autumn 2022, Kathy and Montana State University are announcing a $30 million gift from the couple, the largest scholarship endowment in university history. The fund will help students from multiple disciplines advance innovative thinking about wildlife habitat protection.
The endowment, which will support the Crawford Wildlife Habitat Scholarships, is expected to generate $1.2 million annually in scholarship funds and will aid both undergraduate and graduate students.
The late Bozeman-area business entrepreneur Thomas “Tim” Crawford and wife Kathy Hansen Crawford, a former professor in the Earth Sciences Department at MSU, enjoy an afternoon together in the Gallatin Valley. Among the couple’s many shared passions was protecting the natural character of southwest Montana and inspiring young people to do the same. Through the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, the Crawfords earlier placed a conservation easement on 310 acres of their home ground, Pheasant Farm, north of Belgrade, protecting habitat for a wide variety of native wildlife species and a stretch of the East Gallatin River. (Photo courtesy of Kathy Hansen Crawford)
“Tim and I shared a deep love for Montana. He cherished its natural heritage, the legacy of public wildlife, and he had a special place in his heart for rural people and stewardship that can take many forms,” Kathy Crawford said. “He was always grateful for the sense of purpose outdoor experiences gave him in his life. For both of us, we saw hope for the future expressed in the desire of young people wanting to make a positive difference in protecting natural lands.”
Under the guidelines of the Crawfords’ gift, students from any and all of the university’s colleges or departments are invited to apply for a scholarship, be they pursuing degrees in arts, sciences or humanities.
“This is a transformative gift for MSU students in this field. It will have a lasting impact on generations to come,” said MSU President Waded Cruzado. “I am deeply moved by the Crawfords’ generosity, and it is bittersweet that Tim will not be here to meet the students whose lives will be changed thanks to this endowment.”
President Cruzado and Crawford, who earlier, as Dr. Kathy Hansen, served as a professor in the MSU Earth Sciences Department, said the scholarships will help bolster the university’s existing depth of faculty, research, teaching, creative activities, policy and outreach to support broader thinking about better conserving Montana’s wildlife and its habitat.
“A transformational characteristic of the Crawfords’ gift is that it will create and bring together students from traditional wildlife and land resources disciplines, as well as new and unexpected areas, such as engineering, nursing, business, education, art, architecture, and history. It will fuel an interdisciplinary dialogue and a cross-pollination of ideas that will inspire fresh, innovative solutions,” said Robert Mokwa, MSU provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs.
MSU students who are engaged or interested in conducting research and educational or creative activities that focus on conserving wildlife habitat are encouraged to apply. During his life, Tim Crawford conserved wildlife habitat as a business entrepreneur, hunter, angler, farmer, nature photographer, writer, and former city commissioner in Ketchum, Idaho.
“The Crawford Wildlife Habitat Scholarships will serve as life-changing gifts for student scholarship recipients,” said Fran Albrecht, president, and CEO of the MSU Alumni Foundation. “Tim and Kathy Crawford’s passion for wildlife habitat protection will bring a legacy of impact to students’ lives, our state, and the world.”
Central to the Crawfords’ ethos is the belief that scholarships can give students a crucial added boost during their impressionable time in academia, and it is the intent that their gift foster thinking that can be applied to real-world challenges.
“Bozeman has long had a ‘town-to-gown’ relationship with MSU, and I hope the scholarships will create opportunities for students and their advisers to share insights they divine with the larger community. This is part of the spirit of living in a great university town,” Crawford said. In the future, one desired outcome, she noted, is that each year’s scholarship recipients make free public presentations of their work at the Tim Crawford Theater in the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture, in Bozeman.
MSU will be posting information on how interested students can apply for the Crawford Scholarships and Fellowships.
