Release courtesy of Washington College Communications
Washington College’s 31st president will be Dr. Michael J. (Mike) Sosulski, a leader in academic and student affairs, financial stewardship and change management. Sosulski, who currently serves as Provost at Wofford College in South Carolina, has been appointed to the role after a unanimous recommendation by the Presidential Search Committee and election by the Board of Visitors and Governors.
Sosulski will assume the position from Wayne Powell, Ph.D., who has led the College on an interim basis for the past year. He will assume his duties beginning September 1, 2021.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled to be chosen as Washington College’s 31st president,” said Sosulski. “The College’s commitment to students’ personal intellectual growth and preparation for highly engaged public lives truly speaks to my own sense of mission in higher education,” he added, noting that the liberal arts have never been more valuable and needed as they are today. “Washington College’s special inflection of liberal arts values makes the opportunity here especially appealing, and I am looking forward a great deal to joining the Washington College community as we work together to lead this historic and vibrant College into its next era of flourishing.”
During his tenure at Wofford, the college has redesigned or reconstructed a range of vibrant academic spaces, including the $4 million-dollar conversion of the Sandor Teszler Library into an Academic Commons; construction of the Rosalind Sallenger Center for the Arts; and most recently, the design and construction of a new $9.5 million Green Globes certified academic science building. Sosulski also appointed the first academic Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, created the Diversity Search Advocacy Program to diversity Wofford’s faculty, and led comprehensive work to strengthen shared governance, including the creation of an independent Rank and Tenure committee.
In addition to serving as Provost since 2016, he is also a full Professor of German at Wofford College. Prior to that, he was with Kalamazoo College, serving first as an Assistant Professor of German and eventually earning the roles of Associate Professor, Department Chair in German Studies and Associate Provost.
Sosulski earned his BS in German from Georgetown University, and went on to receive an M.A. followed by a Ph.D. in Germanic Studies from The University of Chicago.