Faculty fill three new full-time positions

After a national search in fall 2006 with more than 35 applicants, ELI hired the three teachers with the most experience and expertise to fill three new full-time faculty positions. The trio, who had already been working at ELI, includes two Peace Corps veterans and a former biochemist. Between them, they have taught in other countries for a total of 27 years, in addition to their experience in the United States.

Anne Owen, Ken Cranker, and Sarah Petersen received full-time faculty positions.

Anne Owen
Anne Owen worked in the travel business for 22 years before going to Uruguay as a small business volunteer for the Peace Corps. She helped Uruguayans to start their own businesses, wrote a newspaper column to advise people about credit and loans, taught a Junior Achievement course to high school students, spoke on the local radio station, and, of course, taught English. After her two years there, Anne returned to the United States and began a second career in teaching. She completed her master’s in adult education with a concentration in teaching English as a second language at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., before moving back home to York, Pa., where she worked for the Literacy Council. She taught ESL classes, trained tutors and compiled data and assessment for adult learners. Anne then worked at York’s vocational technical high school, where she set up the ESL program as well as taught ESL, science and history. She started as a summer teacher at ELI in 2005 and joined the faculty in November 2005, teaching advanced levels and the news class.

Ken Cranker
Ken Cranker worked for Cornell University as a researcher for six years after getting a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry there. He enjoyed the interaction with the international group of researchers and professors so much that he decided to teach international students and earned a master’s in teaching English to speakers of other languages at the State University of New York at Albany, his hometown. Ken hoped to work in China, but the political situation there changed for foreigners after the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, so he was advised to go to Japan. After four years in Yamagata, Ken and his family returned to the United States, where Ken worked again in biochemistry at Virginia Technical University for two years, publishing two papers. Returning to Japan, Ken spent five years at a computer science university, preparing students for academic work in English. He became an expert in vocabulary development and extensive reading, presenting at the Japanese Association of Language Teachers annual conference. Relocating to Newark, his wife’s hometown, in 2004, Ken first taught in ELI’s summer session and then served as Tutoring Center and Self Access Learning Center coordinator and as classroom teacher, principally in the academic classes.

Sarah Petersen
After earning her bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and then a master’s in education at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Sarah enlisted in the Peace Corps with her husband Jerry and both were sent to the Central African Republic, fulfilling a lifelong dream to work in French-speaking Africa. After their two years service, they remained for another three years running their own store. Sarah then earned her master’s in teaching English as a second language at the University of Southern Illinois near her family home in St. Louis. The Petersens then began teaching in another French-speaking country, French Guiana in South America, where they started their own language school. During her years abroad, Sarah taught both adults and children. She also became fluent in local languages. Moving to Newark in 2002 to be near family, Sarah’s first job at ELI was teaching young children at Brookside Elementary School in 2004. Since then, she has taught foreign teachers, corporate managers and international teaching assistants in addition to coordinating special programs. • WB