Paige Morris '17

Current Roles: Educator, mentor, editor, Fulbright English Teaching Assistant

GISP: "Consuming Popular Culture in Contemporary Korea" with Prof. Samuel Perry

What was your role at the CRC? What were your responsibilities, and what kinds of projects did you work on?

I was one of the Independent Studies Coordinators during the 2015-2016 academic year. My co-coordinator and I facilitated info sessions, workshops, and open hours/open hours-style events meant to make the process of crafting a syllabus for an independent study more accessible and feasible for students. We revised the application to clarify it during the Spring 2016 semester. We also provided feedback at several stages of students’ application processes, reviewed and approved applications with the College Curriculum Council, and gave students information on other opportunities (such as a DISP or an UTRA) that might better serve the projects they were interested in working on. Finally, we helped digitize and archive past independent study projects.

What do you remember about the CRC as an advising space for students?

I remember it feeling like a home to me, and a casual hang-out for friends to do homework and ask about independent studies. We were constantly thinking of how to make the space less daunting and better-known to students, and there were many times I felt that people were relieved to find the CRC and use the space as a resource. As staffers, our advising styles were all different, but students often could get two or three people helping them out with a problem depending on when they came to the office. It was a very laid-back space that was inviting for students.

How did curricular options (like leavetaking, independent concentrations and studies, taking classes S/NC, no distribution requirements, etc.) inform or shape your Brown experience?

My GISP was one of the highlights of my time at Brown, and one of the most rewarding projects to start and see through to completion. I really credit the GISP process with making me more skilled as a researcher and educator. Taking classes S/NC was kind of funny for me because I always chose the "wrong" class to S/NC, and I always worked as though I were taking the class for a grade, so I didn't feel the full effect of that option, even though I was grateful it existed. Having no core requirements was THE BEST. Sure, I can't do math now, but it's not relevant to the things I'm passionate about and really want to learn about. I learned so much across so many disciplines because of the open curriculum, and I felt much more confident in my ability to seek out and define my interests for myself as a result. Lastly, leavetaking was an interesting option to me because it wasn't really feasible for me considering my financial situation and family situation, but it was something I really heavily considered and wish I'd done if I could have.

What challenges did you face in navigating through the Open Curriculum?

As mentioned before, I felt some of the options didn't really mesh with the expectations of my family and with my financial situation. I feared leavetaking would ruin my really generous financial aid package that allowed me to attend Brown, and there was an added burden of my family wanting me to graduate on time, if not early, because of the stigma associated with taking a bit longer than average to graduate. I also felt, as many students around me did, an overwhelming sense of freedom associated with the open curriculum that was difficult to navigate when many advisors simply said, "Do what you want," or, on the other end of the extreme, said, "Do this specific thing that you have no interest in, but that I think is great."

Recall a significant/meaningful class, extracurricular activity, faculty interaction, administrator and/or other experience or person at Brown. How did that they impact your perspective while you were a student?

It was so crucial for me to take courses like Intro to Ethnic Studies, Intro to Africana Studies, and my senior seminar in Ethnic Studies because those were the first and some of the only spaces in a classroom where I encountered my own history and learned how I could challenge things I had (begrudgingly) accepted to be true. I had some of the most illuminating and insightful seminar conversations of my time at Brown in these classes, and grew from them. My interactions with Daniel Kim, Peggy Chang, Keisha-Khan Perry, and Joanna Howard were some of the most positive interactions I had at Brown because they always made me feel validated and encouraged me in productive ways. Daniel Kim sat down with me and taught me how to do a close reading in his English class, which is something I had never learned to do in high school or middle school. Peggy Chang believed in me and encouraged me to apply for a position at the Curricular Resource Center; she also recommended me for the fellowship I have now. She always asking for feedback from students, and I saw her show up to so many important student-led demonstrations, which gave me so much hope. Keisha-Khan Perry was a brilliant lecturer, and she gave me encouragement to continue writing and researching and to apply to a program to become an educator in the future. Joanna Howard was one of the only people in the Literary Arts department who validated my stories and pushed to have writers of color represented in her classroom.