“Because of who she is, Claire inspires me to be a better teacher, a better scholar and a better person,” said Assistant Professor of Asian Languages and Civilizations Paola Zamperini. Whether helping Zamperini with research or compiling techno playlists with her friends, Morrison has touched many during her four years at Amherst.
When asked what is most inspiring about Morrison, Zamperini said “her sense of humor and, overall, the sheer brilliance of her being. She is not only intelligent; she is also profound, thoughtful, respectful, hardworking and sensitive.”
A “Dominant” Presence
Sara Bouberhan ’08, Morrison’s friend since their first year and roommate during their sophomore year, said that when thinking of Morrison, the first word that comes to mind is “dominant.” According to Bouberhan, “Claire is focused and unusually competent and just tends to be very good at what she does—school, sports, internships, compiling techno playlists, etc.”
Alexander Urquhart ’08, who has been friends with Morrison since high school, commented on her interest in a wide array of subjects. What impresses him most is that “she really does seem interested in everything. No matter the subject, she always gets excited about it—positively or negatively. Her contributions are always interesting and always unique, which is to say, not a recapitulation of the morning’s New York Times.”
Urquhart continued by explaining how Morrison’s curiosity about many subjects—“apples, [her Asian languages and civilizations class] Fashion Matters [and] Alexander the Great” being among her favorites—and her self-consciously repressed desire for world domination give her an always interesting perspective in conversation,” Urquhart said.
Her two close schoolmates point to the quirky sides of Morrison’s personality in addition to her enthusiasm and devotion to a large number of academic pursuits. When talking to Morrison, the “wry sense of humor, especially about herself” that Urquhart observed is very apparent. There are other features about Morrison, though, that one cannot detect through the course of a casual conversation. Bouberhan spoke of Morrison’s “questionable taste in music, with a decided focus on bizarre, bizarre techno mixes,” and her “biorhythms of a 65-year-old” that lead to Morrison’s unusual productivity before 9 a.m. Bouberhan also noted Morrison’s surprisingly persuasive approach to their “philosophical, political, and existentialist debates.”
A Passion for Research
Morrison has taken advantage of the opportunities that had originally attracted her to attend the College by getting involved in a number of activities. She did crew for a few years until she decided “that a sport that pretty much exclusively rewards pain tolerance probably wasn’t the best choice for [her].” She was also involved in the Peer Advocates for two years.
According to Morrison, one of the most rewarding experiences of her college career was being a teaching assistant for the economics department for courses such as Introduction to Economics, Microeconomics and Econometrics. “I really enjoyed meeting classmates I might otherwise have missed and getting to talk about nerdy things like exchange rates and risk aversion,” said Morrison.
In addition to being a teaching assistant she was also a research assistant to Professor of Economics Steven G. Rivkin. However, Morrison quickly quit that position because she claimed that she was “the most inept research assistant Professor Rivkin has ever had, being completely unable to figure out how to use STATA or any other number-crunching program.” She found a new research assistant position when Zamperini, whom she first met in the course The Dao of Sex and again in Fashion Matters, asked her to assist in the research of her upcoming book. This position lasted from her junior year through the whole of her senior year.
It was while working in this research position, and through their two classes together that Morrison formed an intellectual, academic and personal relationship with Zamperini, whom she describes as her closest friend on the faculty. According to Zamperini, in class, Morrison “always shone for her intellectual courage and originality, no matter how hard or how complicated the question I had brought forth for discussion.” As a research assistant, Morrison also impressed Zamperini with her hard work and commitment to her task. From reading a foreign language she did not know to delving into complicated histories ranging from “South Korean designers to incest taboos in late imperial China,” she always rose to meet any challenge Zamperini presented her.
Business as Usual
Outside of the College, Morrison spent her summers working for leading financial and business firms including Smith Barney in the summer before her sophomore year and The Parthenon Group before her senior year. Before her junior year, she spent the summer at Stanford University in a business program. Each of these experiences taught Morrison her strengths, weaknesses and interests within the business field.
Morrison’s interest in business and financing was also reflected in her choice of major. Though she is drawn to many subjects, the economics department appealed to her above all other departments because “it presents a powerful way of thinking about problems in many areas, not just finance; the field is developing really interesting ways to address questions about the environment, social policy and political change, for example.” Adding to her outstanding academic record, Morrison decided to write a thesis during her last year at the College. Her thesis focused on credit contract enforcement, which sounds and is very boring, joked Morrison.
Within the economics department, Morrison said that her favorite class was Game Theory, taught by Assistant Professor of Economics Christopher G. Kingston. However, she did not limit herself to “safe” classes. She took advantage of the open curriculum at the College and explored the class offerings of many different departments. Professor Zamparini’s Fashion Matters course was her favorite class outside of the economics department because “it challenged [her] to think about a subject (clothes) [she] had never before approached in a rigorous intellectual way and raised a number of very interesting issues, from semiotics to social justice and economics.” She also had fun in Why Sex? taught by Assistant Professor of Biology and Neuroscience Ethan D. Clotfelter and Assistant Professor of Biology Jill S. Miller.
This fall, she will return to The Parthenon Group, where she will be doing management consulting a few years. She decided to continue working for Parthenon mainly because her summer experience introduced her to many of the advantageous of the group, for example the group’s close relationship with the Gates Foundation and the “intellectual, leadership and social abilities” that consulting will require.
The Parthenon Group also presents a great opportunity for Morrison to learn very quickly in a professional setting—a beneficial result, especially since she is considering furthering her education by getting an M.B.A. or eventually a Ph.D.
“Claire Morrison is a very good student, but more importantly to me, she has a great attitude towards her studies,” Professor of Economics Geoffrey Woglom said. “Claire is always cheerful, curious and willing to ask questions. Most importantly, she. is more concerned about what she is learning than the grade she receives on any particular assignment. She has been a delight to work with these past four years.”