Anna T. Jacobson

Her family relocated to the Keene area in 1981, finally settling in Chesterfield, NH. A graduate of Keene High School class of 1984, Anna was gifted in Russian language and history. As an undergrad, she attended UNH and studied Russian Language and Literature, class of 1988.

Anna received her M.A.T. in Secondary Education with a focus in Russian, from the University of New Hampshire in 1995 and her Ph.D. in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education from Indiana University in Bloomington, class of 2009.

Anna had a variety of experiences as an educator. She began her career teaching Russian and Spanish in middle and high schools in Littleton, MA, and Exeter, NH, and admits her own secondary school teaching experience was what led to her dedication to developing future middle and high school teachers.

As a doctoral student at Indiana University, she combined her love of language teaching, working in multilingual communities, and a long-held love of the social sciences, when she worked as the founding educational consultant at the Center for the Languages of the Central Asian Region, a National Foreign Language Resource Center, focused on developing materials for teaching Pashto, Uzbek, Tajik, and Uyghur.

Anna’s career then took a different turn, as she began working for the Federal Government as a teacher educator at the Defense Language Institute (DLI), in Monterey, CA that trains US military personnel to achieve high proficiency in various foreign languages. At DLI, Anna provided pedagogical support and professional development to native-speaking teachers of multiple less commonly taught languages (LCTL), including Arabic, Russian, Hindi, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Anna additionally worked as a researcher on the impact of summer LCTL programs for pre-college learners offered by the STARTALK initiative at the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland.

Anna also worked at Alfred University in Alfred, NY, as an Assistant Professor of Education, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in literacy and social foundations of education as well as methodology courses in World Language, Social Studies, and English/Language Arts pedagogy at the secondary level.

Most recently, Anna held the position of Assistant Director focusing on World Languages and Social Studies at Princeton University in New Jersey.

Anna was a proud member of several professional organizations, including the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language, the International Literacy Association, and the National Council for the Social Studies.

Anna adored her little dog Manya whom she adopted from Sochi Dog rescue in NJ. Leave it to Anna to adopt a Russian-speaking dog! She loved her two cats Pushkin and Mina. She was an avid anglophile and enjoyed vintage fashion, old movies, knitting, crystal mosaics and crosswords. She was proud of her Norwegian/Irish heritage and was recently learning to speak Norwegian.

Anna achieved a great many things in her life. She had a fantastic career working as an educator with people from all over the globe. Anna touched many lives and in her own way and helped shape the lives of those around her. By doing so, she did her part to make the world a better place. She often commented about how proud she was of her former students, friends, and colleagues for the accomplishments they achieved. Whether it was news of a new addition to a family, getting a new job, being brave enough to make a life change for the better, or just continuing with your education, Anna lived through the accomplishments of those around her and will continue to live with us in our memories.

Anna leaves behind a brother and sister-in-law, Karl and Bianca Jacobsen; a niece and nephew Alexander and Olivia Jacobsen; aunts and uncles George Morrish, Regina Kohberger, Ronald and Aunt Doris McGreevy; cousins Keith Morrish, George Morrish Jr, Veronica Morrish, Christine Baker, Laura Jean and Mehdi Rafei, Peter and Colleen McGreevy, John McGreevy, Michael McGreevy, and Penny Morrish

In keeping with Anna’s wishes, there are no calling hours. A private graveside service will be held in the spring of 2021, in the Friedsam Cemetery in Chesterfield, NH.

Donations may be made in memory of Anna Jacobson to Sochi Dogs Rescue at https://www.sochidogs.org/donate.