Next Stop, Bologna! Opening Doors Through a Study-Abroad Scholarship
Since catching the travel bug as a study-abroad student, Christina Anderson Langer ’88 has visited seven continents and more than 70 countries and counting. Above, she and husband Matthew Langer trek in Victoria Falls.
Seven continents later, alumna pays her study-abroad year forward
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
By the time she drove solo from Aviano, Italy, to Bologna, the Air Force officer had seen far-flung corners of the world. But no destination held quite the same place in her heart as this one. Climbing the stairs of the building where she’d once lived, she found a new name on the door, but the wonder and thrill were still palpable. This was where it all began.
Before traveling the world and leading high-tech efforts and teams for the Air Force, Christina Anderson Langer ’88 was a study-abroad student, steeped in an international culture for the first time. That grew her confidence and independence and ignited a lifelong passion for travel. And now, she’s helping students explore what it could do for them.
Love at first flight
Langer, the oldest of six siblings, is the granddaughter of an Air Force brigadier general who flew P-51 Mustangs in World War II and, after directing an early space program effort, earned Air Force Space and Missile Pioneer Hall of Fame status. Inspired by his service, she originally planned to attend college on an Air Force ROTC scholarship, but Dickinson’s generous financial-aid package was too good to pass up.
At Dickinson, Langer majored in political science and economics, minored in Italian and got involved with Student Senate and the Public Affairs Symposium. During her junior year abroad, her understanding of the world deepened—along with her desire to see more of it. “I’m so grateful for that experience,” she says. “It laid a foundation for my success.”
When she graduated cum laude the following spring, Langer worked briefly as a paralegal for the voting section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C. At her earliest opportunity, she attended the Air Force Officer Training School.
Command and connect
During a Sept. 4, 2026, visit to campus, Langer (back row, right) met with students in Dickinson's ROTC program. She also sat in on a class and connected with students who studied abroad in Bologna, Italy.
Across the decades that followed, Langer managed multimillion-dollar initiatives in communications, information technology, software development and cybersecurity, serving both in the Air Force and as a contractor. Her work took her on four overseas assignments and a series of leadership roles across the United States.
While serving in Iraq as a lead communications planner for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Langer and her team expanded the Air Force’s commercial satellite-terminal capacity and available bandwidth, connecting more than 2,000 deployed personnel. She also directed an Air Force-wide review to simplify wartime planning and led software development projects for senior military leaders through the Defense Information Systems Agency. The most challenging highlight of her career was when she commanded the 30th Space Communications Squadron, which was made up of more than 500 military members, civilians and contractors. She retired from the military in 2010 and worked as a military contractor until 2021.
In retirement, Langer used her Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to pursue associate's degrees in anthropology, geology and geography, simply for the joy of learning. These degrees are in addition to the three master’s degrees she’d previously earned in public administration, information resource management and military operational art and science.
In addition to her travels while in the Air Force, Langer embarked on a five-month retirement celebration cruise around the world. Joining her was Matthew Langer, a fellow retired Air Force officer and military contractor whom she’d married at age 50. Their blended family includes three grown children and six grandchildren (soon to be seven).
‘Retired, with travel ahead’
To date, Langer has visited all seven continents and more than 70 countries and shows no signs of slowing down. Her LinkedIn headline reads: “Retired, with lots of travel ahead.”
She's grateful for the travel, the professional and educational opportunities the Air Force afforded her and the Dickinson adventure that fueled her desire for an international life. After decades of careful investing, she’s also thankful to be in a position to give back.
Langer established a scholarship at Dickinson, funding it across five installments, and the first Anderson Langer ’88 Bologna Study Abroad Scholarship will be awarded next year.
“If I had not come to Dickinson, I most likely would not have spent my junior year of college overseas," she says. "Because of that life-changing experience, I want to give other people that opportunity.”
TAKE THE NEXT STEPS
Published October 27, 2026