Meet the Presidential Spouse

Dr. Cori Crane, Ph.D.

Dr. Cori Crane is the spouse of Washington College President Mike Sosulski. Professionally, she serves as Associate Professor and Language Program Director of German at the University of Alabama where she teaches German and world language pedagogy. Her research interests align to her curriculum development and teacher mentoring work with recent publications in the areas of language teacher education, practitioner research, systemic functional linguistics, and transformative learning. In 1999, she earned an MA in Germanic Languages and Literatures from the University of Pennsylvania, and in 2008 a Ph.D. in German (applied linguistics) from Georgetown University.

Dr. Crane calls a number of places home, having grown up in Northern Illinois and the Philadelphia suburbs. In addition to working at different universities over the years (University of Illinois, University of Texas, and Duke University), Dr. Crane worked for several summers as a camp counselor at Concordia Language Villages’ “Waldsee” in Bemidji, MN, and for two years as a high school teacher in Budapest, Hungary.

In 2011, Cori Crane met her husband Mike in Leipzig, Germany (part of the former East) through a professional development program for German teachers. They connected over their love for languages, teaching, and jazz. Over the years, they have collaborated on workshops and publications on transformative learning in second language learning contexts.

She and her husband have enjoyed getting to know the Eastern Shore and the Chestertown community. In her free time, Cori loves to cook and entertain with her husband. She enjoys all types of dancing (especially swing and impromptu “kitchen dancing” with friends and family), and taking walks with their Jack Russell Terrier, Buster, along the Chester River.