SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Dr. Michael J. Sosulski, associate provost at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, has been named provost at Wofford College effective July 1, 2016, President Nayef H. Samhat announced today (Monday, March 7, 2016).
“Dr. Sosulski brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Wofford College,” Samhat says. “He has a firm grasp of Wofford’s commitment to providing transformative educational experiences for students both inside and outside of the classroom. We look forward to his leadership as we continue to advance our academic programs to give our students the best liberal arts education and provide them opportunities to see and experience the world.”
“I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the Wofford College community as provost,” Sosulski says. “From the very beginning I was impressed by Wofford’s deep and abiding commitment to the liberal arts, to global understanding and to the education of each and every student as a whole, unique person. It will be such a pleasure to work side by side with Wofford’s excellent faculty and staff as together we preserve and enhance the integrated student experience that is a hallmark of the college. Wofford has such a bright future, and I am truly honored to be a part of it.”
Sosulski, who received his Ph.D. in Germanic Studies at the University of Chicago, also serves as chair of the Department of German Studies at Kalamazoo College. Previously, he taught at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., and Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana. At Kalamazoo College, he has served in a number of other academic leadership posts, including a term as director of media studies and later was dean of the sophomore class.
Sosulski’s scholarly interests center on performance studies, ranging from in-depth explorations of early modern German theatrical traditions to the transculturation of American hip-hop music in German-speaking Europe. His article “From Broadway to Berlin: Transformative Learning through German Hip-Hop” (Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German 46 [1] Spring 2013) was awarded Best Article in UP for that year. He currently is at work on a study of vocation in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the early German Romantics. He has taught courses that cover all aspects of German language acquisition, as well as German theatre and film.
A native of West Chicago, Ill., Sosulski is married to Dr. Cori Crane, and has two teenage sons.
Dr. Dennis M. Wiseman, who has served as interim provost at Wofford since July 2014, will retire at the end of this academic year. During his 37-year career at Wofford, Wiseman has served as dean of the Center for Innovation and Learning, the Reeves Family Professor of Foreign Languages, a professor of French, chair of the Department of Foreign Languages (now Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures) and director of program assessment.