Pitt Business e-newsletter Issue 14, March 2009
A Summer of Discovery
As he nears graduation, CBA senior Patrick Moroney has a great deal to be proud of. A native of Westlake, Ohio, Moroney entered the University of Pittsburgh in 2005 as a recipient of the University's most prestigious academic award, the Chancellor's Scholarship. Not surprisingly, Moroney chose to pursue an intense undergraduate program of studies that will lead to two distinct University degrees and is rich in research experience, honors coursework, and international awareness cultivated through study abroad experiences in both London and Madrid. On the extracurricular side, Moroney has been a considerable force on the University of Pittsburgh's Mock Trial Team, helping to lead the organization to a fifth-place (out of 700) finish nationally in 2008. Through it all, Moroney has maintained a perfect 4.00 grade point average.
Did we mention that Moroney will be heading to Harvard Law School next fall?
A hallmark of Moroney's academic experience at Pitt has been its interdisciplinary nature. In fact, when he visited Pitt as a senior in high school, Moroney was especially impressed by the University Honors College and its focus on interdisciplinary study. "I thought it was really cool that they encouraged students to pursue unique combinations like philosophy and bioengineering. I saw myself at a place like that." Moroney's varied interests include politics, history, philosophy, economic policy, free trade and globalization, criminal law, and the juxtaposition of religion and politics. Moroney originally enrolled as a student in the School of Arts and Sciences, but discovered an interest in economics and finance during his first-year macroeconomics course. By the end of his freshman year, Moroney had added a second degree program in finance to his liberal arts focus on politics and philosophy.
When asked, Moroney points to several Pitt experiences that have contributed to his development and are helping to shape his future. One such experience has been his work as a teaching assistant for Professor of Business Administration Robert Atkin's Managing in Complex Environments class. Moroney has spent five semesters working with first-year CBA students enrolled in the course. According to Moroney, he has especially enjoyed assisting students with the group research project that is a key component of the class. "Advising freshmen on the development of their project and paper was really satisfying. I felt like I was able to help them get beyond business clichés to an understanding of the wealth of research tools available to them. I'm hopeful that I contributed to a better product in the end and to a more valuable experience for the students." Moroney also enjoyed his volunteer experience with Mission Acceptance, a student organization that assists students from high schools throughout the city of Pittsburgh with the college application process. It was particularly gratifying for Moroney when the student he mentored last year was accepted to his first choice school, Stanford University.
The summer after Moroney's sophomore year was critical relative to his future career path. That summer, he was awarded the Brackenridge Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship through the University Honors College. The fellowship provided funding for research on the topic of his choice. For Moroney that was the U.S. anti-death penalty movement, a topic that had interested him since high school. He completed a 30-page analysis of the movement and along the way found a calling. "This was an excellent project for me as it incorporated my interests in politics, religion, and history. I spent many fascinating hours in the law library researching [U.S.] Supreme Court decisions. I could have read those decisions all day long—I guess that was a clue that my future would be in law."
At the same time, Moroney was participating in an internship with the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. As an intern, he was the first point of contact for local citizens and also assisted the lawyers on staff. This experience allowed Moroney to observe attorneys in action on a daily basis, develop his problem solving skills, and to begin to envision a career in law.
Perhaps Moroney's most rewarding experience at Pitt has been his involvement with the Mock Trial Team. A four-year member of the team, he took a leading role in their impressive national finish last year and personally garnered All-Region Attorney honors. This year, he is leading the organization as its president. According to Moroney, his participation has lead to the development of some particularly valuable skills: "Mock Trial has contributed greatly to my critical thinking and public speaking skills, as well as my ability to present a convincing argument. This relates to so much that I'm doing now, whether I'm applying it to a discussion in a political science class or a presentation I'm making in one of my finance courses."
Moroney's senior year has revolved largely around the law school application process. He has gained acceptance to a wide variety of prestigious programs, including Columbia University, New York University, Duke University, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, UCLA, Georgetown University, Stanford University, and Harvard, where he plans to enroll. He has expressed interest in both criminal and corporate law, and may incorporate the two by pursuing an emphasis on white collar crime.
As Patrick Moroney makes his way to Cambridge next fall, he will do so with an appreciation for the "largeness" of Pitt-his access to research grants, faculty experts, and the wealth of academic resources he utilized in making his undergraduate education a success. However, he has also developed great affinity for the University's more personal side, including the Honors College and CBA communities in which he's thrived, and for the individuals that invested themselves in his achievement and, in the end, made the University feel like home.
"I've found that faculty members at Pitt genuinely care about students and about their responsibility to teach, which I'm not sure can always be said about other universities, much less large research institutions. Many of the opportunities I've had over the past four years came about directly as a result of help from the faculty and staff," says Moroney. "I've seen example after example of individuals going out of their way to lend a hand: [Professor] Bob Atkin getting in touch with one of his colleagues to set me up with a summer research position; [Associate Professor, finance,] Shawn Thomas writing a letter of recommendation for me three days after I asked him for it; Liz Adams [CBA Director of Academic Advising] staring at a computer screen for several hours to figure out how I could make my summer study abroad program work with my double degree track; and Ed McCord, an administrator in the Honors College, meeting with me for two hours per day to revise my law school personal statement. With interactions like these you wouldn't think that there are 17,000 undergrads at Pitt."
