Shaan, Class of 2011
University School of Nashville | Tufts University, Summa Cum Laude
Shaan attributes his propensity for creating his own path in life to his time at Linden Waldorf. After attending high school at the University School of Nashville, Shaan entered Tufts University, where he created his own major, Media & Politics, and also majored in Spanish Literature. After graduating, he chose to work at a start-up organization that seeks to defy convention, change perspectives, and ignite ideas. Shaan currently lives in Miami, Florida, where he has worked as an operations analyst at a diverse, global, and forward-looking media and entertainment company.
Shaan has received a myriad of awards and landed highly sought-after internships:
USN: Outstanding Senior Award; Tufts: Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Honos Civicus, Highest Honors in Senior Honors Thesis. Internships: Congressional Intern, Office of Congressman Jim Cooper; Production Intern, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah; and Field Researcher and Production Intern, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
Shaan’s broad interests and passions are best reflected in the research he has completed:
Madam Senator: Political Visibility and Identity-Based Attacks Online, Shaan Merchant, Sarah Sobieraj. Published: De Gruyter Social Sciences Journal, Dec. 2020 . Presented: Social Media, Social Order Conference, Oslo, Norway | Undergraduate Research Symposium, Medford, Massachusetts
Las Superhéroes de Interseccionalidad: El Feminismo Negro y El Labor de Inclusión, Shaan Merchant Presented: Beyond the Classroom: Forum for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality, Medford, Massachusetts
“A Suit Tailor-Made for Someone Else”: The Impact of Race and Gender in Shaping Opportunity and Expectations for Political Comedians, Shaan Merchant. Honors Thesis for the Center of Interdisciplinary Studies; Highest Honors.
