Lynn '84 and Bill Crane '83 have established a chair within the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
Lynn and Bill Crane have established the Lynn ’84 and Bill Crane ’83 Chair within the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. The Crane’s gift to establish the chair will be matched by the Texas A&M University President’s Office.
The Crane’s gift, which will be credited to Texas A&M’s Lead by Example campaign, will be used to support the teaching, research, service and professional development activities of the holder in accordance with university guidelines.
“We are passionate about the impact software is having on our world,” said Bill Crane. “By endowing a chair in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering we can ensure that future students will be able to learn and grow as we did at Texas A&M for generations to come.”
The Lead by Example campaign is a $4 billion comprehensive campaign to address major societal challenges facing the state, nation and world. It is the largest fund-raising endeavor ever undertaken in Texas, and only one other public university in the nation has ever announced a higher goal.
Both Lynn and Bill graduated from Texas A&M with computer science degrees and they have been giving to Texas A&M since graduating. Bill received the Distinguished Former Student Award from the Department of Computer Science in 2014. He also serves on the department’s advisory council.
Lynn and Bill started as software developers at IBM in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bill then became the vice president of engineering at Network Computing Devices, E-LOAN, Redline Networks (later acquired by Juniper Networks) and Proofpoint. Most recently he was vice president of engineering for LinkedIn during its early high-growth period. Since 2010, he has served as interim vice president of engineering and technical advisor for a variety of startup companies in the Silicon Valley and Europe. He is currently on the board of GreatNonprofits.org and Women Who Code.
The couple currently resides in Sunnyvale, California and they have two children.
This article was originally published by the College of Engineering.
Texas A&M Foundation
The Texas A&M Foundation is a nonprofit organization that solicits and manages investments in academics and leadership programs to enhance Texas A&M’s capability to be among the best universities.
You can support faculty in the College of Engineering with a gift of an endowment to the Texas A&M Foundation. For additional information about how to benefit the college, contact Julie Gelderd ’02 with the Foundation at (800) 392-3310, (979) 862-3716 or jgelderd@txamfoundation.com.
