David and Kathryn Crowe have seen firsthand the powerful impact education can have on a student.This inspired the couple to establish a planned gift that will provide scholarship funding for history majors at Elon.
[/caption]By Megan Mcclure
As a history professor at Elon for nearly four decades, David Crowe remembers teaching on campus when Jimmy Carter was president and disco ruled the radio.
During his tenure, he has played a role in some of Elon’s most dramatic changes—including expansion of the study abroad program and the opening of Elon University School of Law.
The one thing that hasn’t changed in 40 years is Crowe’s passion for educating young people. “To me, it’s all about the students,” he says. “The reason I enjoy continuing to teach is we have such good students and I personally get so much out of interacting with them.”
His dedication to higher education is shared by wife Kathryn, who has spent more than 30 years working with students as a librarian at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Throughout their careers, both David and Kathryn have seen firsthand the powerful impact education can have on a student.
These experiences have inspired the couple to establish a planned gift that will provide scholarship funding for history majors, a nod to both David’s teaching career and Kathryn’s educational background. “We are thrilled that we’re able to support students’ education in this important discipline that means so much to both David and me,” says Kathryn, who earned a master’s degree in history.
The couple’s desire to create the scholarship also stems from David’s experiences with students who demonstrated great talent and ambition in the classroom but struggled with the cost of education. For many of these deserving students, David says, even modest amounts of additional support would make a tremendous difference in their efforts to finish school. “Our purpose was to set up a scholarship for those very bright students who come to Elon and blossom,” he says. “We wanted to reward them and acknowledge their talents and gifts to the university.”
Named for several people who have influenced the couple, the Delp-Moore-Crowe History Scholarship honors David’s grandmother, Ethel Crowe, and his father, David M. Crowe Sr., as well as Kathryn’s parents, Malcolm and Louise Moore. It also honors Robert Delp, a former professor of history at Elon who mentored David in his early days on campus and who officiated the couple’s wedding.
For the Crowes, the gift not only pays tribute to the generosity that others have shown them, but is also an important way to support students who will make a positive difference in the world. “Education begins in the classroom, but it doesn’t end there,” David says. “It’s really all about watching people grow as human beings and gain a broader sense of compassion for people in the world around them. That’s what is so wonderful about Elon.”