Professor Gerlinde Berger-Walliser, head of the Marketing Department, was featured in the quarterly issue of the International Child Art Foundation’s ChildArt Magazine.
In the interview Berger-Walliser, an associate professor of business law in the School of Business, talked about growing up in a small town in Germany and loving music from a very young age.
“Music played a significant role in church life and was at the heart of my community,’’ she said. “I loved playing music so much that I was seriously considering a career in the performing arts.’’
Berger-Walliser played the recorder, flute, and piano, but the recorder was her favorite.
“I was considering a career as a professional recorder player. I entered competitions, and at age 16, I took private lessons with a professor in a School of Fine Arts, which was a two-hour train ride away from where I lived. I was pretty committed to the arts, but I was also drawn to history, politics, and languages, which got me interested in international law,” she said.
Eventually she had to choose between a career in music or one in law, and she chose the latter because it offered more opportunities. Although no one in her family had been a lawyer, her mother’s maiden name is Richter, which means judge in German. And the name Gerlinde is rooted in the term justice.
“In some ways it felt like my career was fated,’’ she told the magazine, which serves preteens and teenagers.
The U.S.-based International Child Art Foundation has a global reach, and focuses on creativity, empathy, and building peace and community. Its signature event is a public festival on The Mall in Washington D.C., showcasing children’s art, performances, and workshops, which draw children from around the world.
“The message I wanted to convey is that if, like me, you’re drawn to the arts, you can also have a fulfilling career in business,’’ said Berger-Walliser who was the inaugural director of a new master’s program in Corporate Social Responsibility & Impact (MSSRIB) in the UConn School of Business. “That is a career field that requires empathy and creativity, in addition to business knowledge.”
Young people who are passionate about arts, develop this skill set, which will serve them well in business.
“Building a product that meets the needs of consumers requires creativity and empathy. You must be able to understand the needs of your customers by putting yourself in their shoes and devising a new approach to addressing those needs,’’ she said. “To do well in business, you must understand how to ‘do good’ for workers, customers, and society. This is why we created the MSSRIB program.’’
“Gerlinde was integral in the creation of the MSSRIB program,’’ said professor Kelly Herd, who is now the academic director. “Particularly with the Accelerated MSSRIB program, we want to enable students from within the School of Business and beyond – in majors like Human Rights, Political Science, Environmental Studies, and Communication – to find their passion and consider how business can positively impact all aspects of society.”
UConn undergraduate students from all majors can apply to the Accelerated MSSRIB program. If accepted, they can begin taking MSSRIB graduate courses, and count credits toward both their undergraduate and the MSSRIB degree.
In her capacity as an adviser, Berger-Walliser often meets students who don’t think that general business is a match for them, but then discover a subspecialty that intrigues them.
Berger-Walliser found her career foothold while working on her Ph.D. in international business law. Her husband had a job offer that moved the family from Germany to France. She was offered her first academic position in a French business school, where she became interested in interdisciplinary work. She contributed to the emerging field of “proactive law’’ which focuses on law as a force to promote business success by anticipating and addressing potential legal problems before they occur. She later applied that concept to environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Her collaboration with scholars in the United States eventually brought her to UConn in 2012.
Although this issue of ChildArt Magazine focused on corporate social responsibility and social change, Berger-Walliser said she doesn’t know how she was selected for an interview, but she is enjoying the notoriety.
“It’s nice to be featured in a publication that is so different from an academic journal,’’ she said. “It makes me feel good that what I do is relevant at UConn but also beyond.’’
“Our leadership team has been very focused on impact, both internal to and external to the premier business research outlets,’’ said Associate Dean David Bergman. “I’m excited that Gerlinde has positively contributed to that effort.’’
