Posted on May 1, 1998

Day-to-day, year-to-year, Ann Nicholas Atanasio '78
is never certain where she will be.
A special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
she now flies as a full-time commercial pilot after
having worked in narcotics, intelligence, terrorism, and
special operations all over the United States.

Atanasio says that her life “just
happens” without a plan, including joining the FBI
— and transferring to Union after two years at Fulton
Montgomery Community College.

“Coming to Union was one of the
smartest decisions I've ever made,” she says.
“After earning my associate's degree, I just didn't
know what I wanted to do.” A liberal arts major, she
asked a professor about opportunities after graduation.
He suggested she transfer to a four-year college and
recommended Union.

“As soon as I got to Union I fell
in love with it,” she says. The first of her family
to go to college, she says that the academic rigor and
the expectations that faculty members had for Union
students vaulted her to a higher level, where she found
new confidence and new dreams. She studied English and
classics at Union and subsequently attended law school —
once again because she wasn't sure what to do. “I
just walked in to take the LSATs with no preparation and
did very well, so law school seemed to be the logical
next choice,” she says.

After two years each at the University
of Minnesota and Delaware Law Schools, Atanasio faced
another turning point in her life as she contemplated a
career in law. Although she had been admitted to the Bars
in New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, she didn't
feel ready to enter the legal profession. However, during
her last year in law school, she had clerked for the U.S.
attorney in Delaware and occasionally worked with an FBI
agent. He mentioned that the FBI hired lawyers, and she
was intrigued.

“I thought that he meant the FBI
hires lawyers to be lawyers, not special agents,”
she explains. Nonetheless, she entered the FBI Academy
and planned to spend two or three years with the Bureau
before practicing law. It's now been fourteen years, and
she still loves it. After graduating from the academy,
she worked in narcotics and general criminal matters in
Columbia, S.C., then transferred to New York City where
she was assigned to intelligence, terrorism, and special
operations. She subsequently served in the Washington,
D.C., office as a pilot, and was recently transferred to
Colorado.

Atanasio says that being an FBI agent
is interesting, challenging, and often exciting. “We
gather evidence, conduct interviews, put together cases,
and make arrests,” she says. “I've arrested
some pretty bad people, but I'm always prepared and I'm
never alone. I love my career because of the diversity
and because I know I'm doing something important.”

Atanasio will be eligible to retire in
nine years, at which time she hopes to devote herself to
her children and her writing. She takes creative writing
classes, has published short stories, and has won awards
for her writing.

Atanasio lives with her husband, two
children, and many animals on their forty acre ranch in
Colorado.