President Joe Biden addresses South Carolina State University graduates.
The U.S. Army’s former chief information officer will speak at South Carolina State University’s fall commencement ceremony.
Retired Lt. Gen. Bruce T. Crawford is a 1986 distinguished military graduate of S.C. State with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
S.C. State expects to confer more than 120 bachelor’s and graduate degrees during the ceremony, which will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 16, in Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.
Admission to the ceremony will be limited to S.C. State faculty and staff, members of the graduating class and their invited guests. Each graduating senior will be given a limited number of tickets for guests to attend.
A native of Columbia, Crawford was commissioned through S.C. State’s Bulldog Battalion ROTC program on May 28, 1986.
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He also holds a master’s degree in administration from Central Michigan University, and a master’s degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
During more than 30 years of service, Crawford served in a variety of leadership positions at the tactical, operational and strategic levels.
As the Army's chief information officer, Crawford reported directly to the Secretary of the Army, setting strategic direction and objectives for the Army network, and supervised all Army C4 (command, control, communications and computers) and information technology functions.
He also oversaw the Army's $12.2 billion IT investments, managed enterprise IT architecture, established and enforced IT policies, and directed delivery of operational C4IT capabilities to support warfighters and business users.
He served as a special assistant to the director of the Army staff, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
Prior to that, he served as the 14th commander of U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command and Aberdeen Proving Ground senior mission commander, Aberdeen, Maryland; J6, director of C4/Cyber and CIO, U.S. European Command; commanding general, 5th Signal Command (Theater); and G-6, U.S. Army Europe in Wiesbaden, Germany.
His command assignments include the 516th Signal Brigade, Fort Shafter, Hawaii; 82nd Signal Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq; and B Company, 51st Signal Battalion, 35th Signal Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
His key staff assignments include director of the Coordination Group for the chief of staff of the Army, Pentagon, Washington D.C.; division chief of LandWarNet Integration for the Army CIO/G-6, Pentagon, Washington D.C.; division chief for Net Centric Assessments/Analysis Branch, later executive assistant to the J6, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington D.C.; and assistant operations officer, and later corps emergency deployment readiness officer for the 35th Signal Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Crawford's awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Meritorious Service Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Army Achievement Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters.
Crawford is authorized to wear the Combat Action Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge, the Ranger Tab, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge and the Army Staff Identification Badge.
Crawford and his wife, Dianne, have two sons, Bruce Jr. and Corey.
