Alumna Educator Establishes Scholarship for Students Dedicated to Community Involvement

It wasn’t long after an adventurous Linda Schultheis Crawford ’60 earned a degree in education that she boarded an airplane for Chile.

Tasked with teaching children in a small mining village in the desert region of northern Chile, her journey covered many legs of difficult rural travel that concluded in front of a desolate house.

“I was just dropped off there,” Crawford said. “I was told, ‘This is where the teachers live.’”

Feeling the full impact of being thousands of miles from home, an exhausted Crawford gathered her things and headed for the door. A young woman opened it to greet her.

They looked at each other in surprise.

“She looked so familiar. I said, ‘Don’t I know you?’ and she said, ‘Didn’t you go to Oswego?’ and we both laughed,” said Crawford, of her unexpected meeting with Jane Banker Meng ’58. “Here I had traveled so far away, only to find Oswego again . . . in the middle of the northern Chilean desert.”

Linda Schultheis Crawford ’60 with her husband, Stan.

Crawford credits her experiences at Oswego—and around the globe—with giving her a curiosity about the world and a successful lifelong career as an educator.

“Oswego was my personal launching pad,” said Crawford, who was a residence mentor for Johnson Hall during her time at Oswego. That job she recalls fondly, as she does her memory of wearing a large firefighter’s hat as she led students down to the rocky shores of Lake Ontario during fire drills. “All of my experiences were amazing, and I want to pay it forward to help others benefit from what I’ve been fortunate enough to experience.”

Crawford has established the Linda E. Schultheis Crawford ’60 Scholarship as a celebration of being the first in her family to attend college. This scholarship seeks to reward an individual pursuing a career in teaching children in grades 1-6, and who has demonstrated a commitment to community involvement and volunteerism.

“Oswego was so good for me,” Crawford said. “I want others to have that, too—and a lifetime love of adventures and learning.”

Crawford lives with her husband, Stan, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

—Eileen Crandall

Cyrus Sassouni ’18, a resident assistant in Waterbury Hall, stands ready to welcome visitors.

Renovated Waterbury Hall Re-Opens for Fall 2015

Less than a year after Waterbury Hall closed for an $8.8 million facelift and update, the residence hall opened its doors for 230 student residents in August. The renovated Waterbury has added eight additional rooms and three kitchens, and all floors, rooms and common spaces are now wheelchair accessible. Upgrades to the technology, mechanical systems and roof will improve life within the building as well. The restrooms have been updated in modern configurations, and the building has gender neutral restrooms, new lounges on each floor, new windows and a lakeside terrace. All the furnishings are new. Work was completed by general contractor PAC & Associates of Oswego. King & King Architects of Syracuse, working with Facilities Services’ major projects unit, designed the project to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold standards of sustainability. For example, the atrium-like entranceway, designed to save costs and energy, serves as a solar chimney to pull in cooler air during warm months to the building’s upper levels.

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