Connecticut College Athletic Hall of Fame
Valerie Urban ‘17 made her mark in the pool, leading the women’s swimming and diving team to one of the best four-year stretches in program history. During her career, Urban helped the team finish in the top six of the NESCAC Championships all four years, with a program-best third-place showing in 2017, as well as two top-15 finishes at the NCAA Championships with a program-best 10th place in 2017.
The 2015 NESCAC champion in the 1,000 freestyle, Urban was a six-time All-American and a 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee. A team captain and Brown-Brooks Award winner, she ended her career with program records in the 500 freestyle, 1,000 freestyle, and the 1,650 freestyle.
A member of the Pre-Health Club and a Backus Hospital volunteer escort, Urban was a Winthrop Scholar and received both the Senior Biology Award and the Sibyl A. Hausman Prize. She also earned CoSIDA Academic All-District 2 First Team honors and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Urban graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Biology in 2017, and later earned her doctorate from the Penn State College of Medicine in 2023. As an aspiring pediatric hospitalist, she is currently a resident physician at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.
