Anna Dobben enjoyed a stellar two-year stint with the Eagles' swimming & diving program, helping the women's team capture NCAA Division III championships in 2012 and 2013. She claimed national titles in four events: 200 & 400 Freestyle Relay in 2012 and 200 & 400 Freestyle Relay in 2013, was an All-American 12 times and earned one All-America Honorable Mention. At the time of her graduation, Dobben held the school record in the 100 Backstroke (54.84) and swam the anchor leg on a 400 Freestyle Relay team that held the Division III record at 3:21.28. Furthermore, she won seven University Athletic Association event titles, was an All-Conference performer in 10 events and garnered UAA Swimmer of the Year honors as a senior. In addition, Anna was a standout in the classroom, being named a CSCAA Scholar All-American both seasons and was tabbed as a Capitol One Academic All-America First Team selection during her final season.
Q: Can you tell us what your occupation is and where you are living?
AD: As the Associate Director, Awards at the National Book Foundation, I manage all things logistics for the National Book Awards. The job is a mix of awards administration, event planning, and nonprofit fundraising. I live in Brooklyn, New York.
Q: Can you give an update on some of your experiences (jobs, education, travel etc.) post-Emory to where you are now?
AD: After graduating Emory, I did a series of publishing internships at a literary agency, a literary scout, and a publisher before landing my first job as a publicity assistant at the publisher Basic Books. I later worked in publicity at Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And of course, I also taught swim lessons as a side hustle, because I love the water!
Q: What were the primary reasons in you wanting to transfer to Emory from University of Virginia?
AD: I wasn't happy at the University of Virginia, and was seeking an elusive swimming/school/life balance. I transferred to Emory University after finishing my second year at UVA, and it was--not to be too dramatic--the best decision anyone has ever made, ever.
Q: Reflections upon your time at Emory, both as a member of the swim team and as a student
AD: Emory changed the course of my life. The classes I took shaped my thinking, challenged my habits, and above all, emphasized connections within culture and across discipline. As a member of the swimming and diving team, Emory both built and revealed my character. I was lucky to be a part of the community for two years.
Q: Influential people during your time at Emory, -- (professor, coach, teammates, etc.)
AD: I took a slew of classes with Dr. James Morey, who encouraged depth of scholarship and enthusiastic curiosity in his students, and in his teaching brought to life even the most uninteresting of topics.
Q: You enjoyed much success in your two seasons with the Eagles, notably capturing national championships in the 200 and 400 Freestyle Relays both seasons. During the 400 Freestyle your senior season, you swam the anchor leg as part of a relay team that turned in, at the time, a Division III record at 3:21.28. What do you still remember from that final race?
AD: I remember jumping up on the block, watching my teammate Renee Rosenkranz take the lead on the other side of the pool, and just having a feeling of overwhelming glee. It was going to be fun.
Q: Your swimming resume also includes All-America honors in 12 events and seven UAA titles. Aside from your four relay national titles, is there one or two races that still holds importance to you from your Emory career?
AD: I keep extensive journals, and the most detailed entries about swimming are all about my mistakes. They're important to me because I learned from them. One important race was the prelims of the 100 backstroke at NCAAs in 2013. Nobody's ever heard this full story, so: I was tired from an earlier race; on the second flip turn I remember thinking the thought "whatever happened to Snow Patrol?", and that kept me pretty distracted. I just coasted. I did not make the top heat, I was in the consolation finals that night.
The team still won NCAAs, I still went a best time in the 100 back later that night, but staying focused matters. Giving it your all matters. Showing up matters. I looked it up later. Snow Patrol was coming out with a "Greatest Hits" album that next month.
Q: You capped off your career with a stellar senior season that included two relay national titles, UAA Swimmer of the Year acclaim and CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. – What were some key contributing factors in your ability to balance swimming and academics at such a high level?
AD: The knowledge that my coaches and teammates both emphasized that school took priority; and, not to be glib, the Moleskin daily planner.
Q: Other Highlights (team, individual or other) that you remember while swimming at Emory
AD: Transferring your junior year is a lot like starting a Netflix series on episode 7 or a book on chapter 10—inside jokes had been made, meets had been won, trips to Rome had been taken. But over my first winter training, there was a women's team tradition called "warm and fuzzies" where we all wrote anonymous kind things to one another. Writing those for my new teammates—and reading what they had written to me—made me feel like I truly was part of the team.
Q: How are you surviving the pandemic and how has it affected you?
AD: I find solace in books, which remind me that humanity is shared--literature doesn't just show me the world, literature shows me how to live in the world. There are moments in quarantine where I have been completely immobilized by despair—but in a world where there is so much wonderful art, be it film, television, music, books—how can we not press on?
Q: Any interests/hobbies or things you do to relax when away from work?
AD: Similar to undergraduate academia, I have developed a classification system of exercise classes in New York City: 101, 201, 301, and 401. When not in a pandemic, I like to attend a couple a week and mix it up. For example, underwater biking is a level 401 (not too difficult, but very strange and unpredictable—will there be Gregorian chanting? Who knows!), and later in the week do a yoga class at my local studio (101—you know what you're going to get).
Q: How did you begin your swimming career and how old were you?
AD: I started swimming for the Homewood Flossmoor Swim Club in Illinois when I was five years old, and as family legend goes, I cried through the entire first season--every practice, every meet. The water was cold!
Q: Do you still swim much nowadays?
AD: Not as much as I would like! Pools can difficult to come by in New York City, though in previous summers I swam with the Coney Island/Brighton Beach open water swimming organization.
Q: Any former teammates that you are in contact with?
AD: The easiest answer: my brother Joel Dobben also swam for Emory! We overlapped for a year; he was 12C and a recipient of the Bobby Jones Scholarship to St. Andrews. We text a few times a week; it's mostly me asking him questions about movies whose plots I can't remember, or commiserating that Hilary Mantel didn't make the Booker Prize shortlist.
Q: Are you able to keep up with Emory swimming & diving?
AD: Yes! Emory Swimming & Diving has a great Instagram that I follow for updates, and Jon Howell keeps the alumni informed on the current team through email newsletters that I devour.
Q: Is there anything that you take from being a student-athlete into your profession?
AD: My senior year, I was one of the co-captains of the team, and that role taught me so much about planning group events, about balancing personalities and priorities, and about my own virtues (and vices). I bring those lessons into my job every day.
Q: Any advice you would give Emory students/future grads?
AD: There's this ancient Greek philosophy experiment about Theseus's ship—as it rotted, parts of it were replaced with new wood. After a century, the entire thing had been replaced, piece by piece. Is it still the same ship? Well, there is no time where your character and future are fixed. Figure out what you learned at Emory, and remember it best you can. There is something in our lives that lasts across the changes.
Photo Credit: Beowolf Sheehan
Anna currently lives in Brooklyn, NY and works with the National Book Foundation.