When donor alums Jim and Diane Crawford attended Boise State in the 1960s, they worked at jobs on and off campus to pay tuition. Diane Crawford also benefited from a scholarship. Those experiences – putting in long hours to earn a college education – inspired the Crawfords’ generosity.
Today, they are loyal Broncos, longtime supporters of Boise State student-athletes, academic programs and scholarships.
“The help provided by outside organizations, part-time employers and the school all were essential in making our long work careers possible,” Jim Crawford said. “How can we not try to emulate the model that was so important to the two of us? Funding scholarships gives young people a path to meaningful employment and perhaps allows them the ‘luxury’ of not having to work while attending classes.”
Diane Crawford pursued a career in advertising, working at agencies such as Steele Stoltz & Associates and earning the 1992 Silver Medal Award from the Idaho Advertising Federation. Jim Crawford, who earned a degree in accounting, worked for the J.R. Simplot Company for 27 years before becoming the chief financial officer for the Wilbur-Ellis Company.
Avid sports fans, the Crawfords have held season tickets to athletic events for many years and give to the Bronco Athletic Association. They also have hosted golf students and fundraising events at their homes in Indian Wells, California, and Boise. Jim Crawford served on the board of directors for the Boise State Foundation and Boise State Alumni Association, and is the 2014 recipient of the College of Business and Economics Distinguished Alumni Award.
The Crawfords founded the James D. and Diane E. Crawford Accountancy Scholarship and the Diane and James Crawford Marketing Scholarship to help students get their degrees and benefit the Gem State.
“If impacting a student’s entire life isn’t a good investment, we don’t know what is,” Diane Crawford said. “And looking at the bigger picture, helping a future successful person is giving back to the people of the State of Idaho, who gave us help when we were starting.”
Destiny Quebrado, a first-generation accounting student from Notus, Idaho, and recipient of the Crawford Accountancy Scholarship, works for a Boise accounting firm.
“This scholarship means so much to me because, being a full-time student, I am working my hardest to make sure I do not graduate with debt and this scholarship is making my dreams possible,” she said.
Quebrado will graduate in 2023 and plans to continue her career with a Caldwell firm.
By Andrew Gauss