By David Morris (Emeritus Professor)
I’m sure that legions of students hold Rob Crawford in the highest regard as a teacher whose dedication to their learning was truly remarkable. Rob put an enormous amount of time and energy into making his classes work. He did not shy away from assigning difficult reading and holding students accountable for making a good faith effort to confront tough political, philosophical and moral questions. As a scholar, Rob produced innovative and influential work on the politics and philosophy of health care delivery. He helped show that the definition of “health” is a contested one, often grounded not in simple biological measures but in the arena of conflicting and changing cultural values.
In addition to being one of 13 faculty members who started UWT in 1990, here are some
less well-known facts about Rob. As a track star in
high school he was a member of mile-relay team which for a time held the national record. When he graduated from college he rode a motorcycle from California to Illinois to attend graduate school at the University of Chicago. He taught for a while at Chicago State University, a school located in the heart of the South Side with a predominantly African-American student body. As an avid backpacker Rob has made several 
excursions into the Grand Canyon and has multiple times camped solo in off-trail sites on Mt. Rainier. For the last fifteen years, Rob has pursued his love of jazz by taking piano lessons from a well-known musician in Seattle. (I can attest to the fact that Rob’s pretty darn good.)
less well-known facts about Rob. As a track star in
high school he was a member of mile-relay team which for a time held the national record. When he graduated from college he rode a motorcycle from California to Illinois to attend graduate school at the University of Chicago. He taught for a while at Chicago State University, a school located in the heart of the South Side with a predominantly African-American student body. As an avid backpacker Rob has made several excursions into the Grand Canyon and has multiple times camped solo in off-trail sites on Mt. Rainier. For the last fifteen years, Rob has pursued his love of jazz by taking piano lessons from a well-known musician in Seattle. (I can attest to the fact that Rob’s pretty darn good.)It is privilege for me to have been a friend and colleague of Rob’s over the last 26 years. He is a deeply reflective, generous-spirited, conscientious man–who is also a lot of fun to be around.
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More about Rob can be found in this feature article from two years ago. We’ll miss him, and wish him the best in his next adventure.