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The Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware (EPADEL) section of the Mathematical Association of America has renamed its Distinguished Teaching Award after the late James Crawford, former professor of mathematics at Lafayette. The annual award, which Crawford received in 1998, recognizes excellence in teaching and influence beyond the recipient’s own institution.
“The decision of the current EPADEL Executive Board is an especially fitting acknowledgement of Jim’s many contributions to the MAA and the generations of students who learned mathematics under his guidance,” says Thomas Hill, professor of mathematics.
Crawford was an enthusiastic and generous supporter of MAA and its EPADEL section in particular, adds Hill. He served as a visiting lecturer, a member of the MAA’s Publications Committee, and a member of the EPADEL Executive Board.
Crawford also donated time and money generously to EPADEL, according its president, Annalisa Cranell.
“He was not only an excellent teacher, but also an extremely benevolent man,” she says. “He was deeply committed to mathematics and our section of the MAA. He was always very generous in terms of giving himself to the section. He was really just a very nice guy.”
Crawford was the current Lafayette faculty member with the longest continuous service when he passed away in May at age 68. He had been teaching at the College since 1957 and served as head of the mathematics department from 1985-91. More than 100 colleagues, former and current students, administrators, relatives, and friends gathered at Colton Chapel on May 22 to honor him with a memorial service.
“Few have enriched the education of as many students as he did in a career that spanned almost half a century,” says Lafayette President Arthur J. Rothkopf ’55. “His friends and colleagues in the faculty and administration will miss him, as will our students and the many alumni who remember him fondly.”
In 1966, Crawford received Lafayette’s Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Faculty Lecture Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching and scholarship. That year, he taught a six-week summer institute in math for junior and senior high school teachers supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. In 1967, he received the College’s Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for distinguished teaching and outstanding contributions to campus life. In 1981, students voted him the recipient of the Student Government Award for Superior Teaching.
In 1993, through a grant from Jonathan R. Bernon ’84, Lafayette established the James P. Crawford Award. It is given annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated a high standard of classroom instruction. The prize consists of $500 for the recipient and an additional $500 going to the recipient’s department to enhance teaching.
Born Feb. 8, 1935, Crawford was a native of Brookville, Pa., and a graduate of Brookville High School. In 1957, he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from Grove City College, Grove City, Pa. He was elected to Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society for college students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni that recognizes and encourages superior scholarship, leadership, and exemplary character.
As a senior at Grove City, he was president of the college chapter of Theta Alpha Phi, the national honorary fraternity for theater arts, and during his career at Lafayette was a well-known amateur actor in campus and community theater groups.