Harriet Fleisher Berger (died May 4, 2012) was an American political scientist. She was a professor of History and Politics at

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...

from 1967 to 1988. She specialized in the study of

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...

, union activism, and

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

in the United States. She was the first woman to obtain a PhD in political science from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, the first woman to be hired as a full-time political scientist at Drexel University, and the first full-time political scientist to receive tenure at Drexel.

Life and career

Berger was born in Philadelphia, and attended Cheltenham High School, graduating in 1934. She then attended

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

, where she completed her bachelor's degree in 1938. Graduating in the midst of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

, she went to work for the

International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membe ...

. She worked there for more than two decades, during which time she was the chief researcher for Elden LaMar's book ''The clothing workers of Philadelphia: History of their struggles for union and security''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Berger and her husband lived in California. There she became one of the early members and activists of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

of California, before it had become a national organization. In the 1950s, after moving to East Falls, Philadelphia, Berger joined the East Falls Community Council, and spent about three decades as a Democratic committeewoman in Philadelphia. In addition to her labour activism and political activity in the United States, she was also active as a supporter of the Jamaican prime ministers Norman Manley and Michael Manley. In the 1950s and 1960s Berger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where in 1958 she obtained an M.A. degree in political science, with the dissertation ''The grievance process in the Philadelphia public service: A problem in public personnel policy''. In 1967 Berger completed a doctorate on collective bargaining, and continued her research on grievance filing in the Pennsylvania public service. Berger's PhD dissertation was entitled ''Exclusive recognition of employee organizations in the public service: Federal agencies in Philadelphia and the City of Philadelphia''. She was the first woman to earn a doctorate in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation was supervised by

Henry J. Abraham Henry Julian Abraham (August 25, 1921 – February 26, 2020) was a German-born American scholar on the judiciary and constitutional law. He was James Hart Professor of Government Emeritus at the University of Virginia. He was the author of 13 ...

, and she also studied constitutional law. In 1967 she joined the political science faculty at Drexel University, making her the first woman to be a full-time political scientist at Drexel. As well, her tenure in 1972 made her the first full-time political scientist to be tenured at Drexel. Berger was married to the Philadelphia city solicitor David Berger, who worked in the administration of mayor

Richardson Dilworth Richardson K. Dilworth (August 29, 1898 – January 23, 1974) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the 91st mayor of Philadelphia from 1956 to 1962. He twice ran as the Democratic nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, in 1 ...

during the 1950s and 1960s. She had two children. Berger retired in 1988, and after her retirement she studied painting at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Berger died on May 4, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Harriet 2012 deaths American women political scientists American political scientists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Wellesley College alumni University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences alumni Drexel University faculty Year of birth unknown American women academics