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Meet the new Marketing Department Head: Gerlinde Berger-Walliser
We are excited to welcome Professor Gerlinde Berger-Walliser as the new head of the UConn Marketing department. Since joining UConn in 2012 as a Professor of Business Law, she has helped to launch many interdisciplinary initiatives. Among them is the EUROBIZ Program, a dual degree in business and German studies which was cofounded with CLAS. She also helped establish the Social Responsibility & Impact in Business marketing concentration, minor and Master’s program (MSSRIB). Her interest in interdisciplinary work stems from her own experience as an undergraduate where she hesitated between business and law, as well as her research on law and strategy. “All too often, people work in disciplinary silos, leading to misunderstandings and lost opportunities...I believe it was the experience working across disciplines that I earned developing the MSSRIB program that ultimately led me to becoming department head,” Professor Berger-Walliser shared. Prior to joining UConn, she lived and worked abroad in France, specializing in international law.
With this background, Professor Berger-Walliser offers strong insight for students interested in pursuing a legal career. She assured that an undergraduate business degree is certainly a path to getting into law school. While pursuing this degree, a student “would be well advised to take some of the BLAW electives that our department offers. They dive deeper into legal methodology than BLAW 3175, which every business student is required to take. This way, students can evaluate if law is really the right fit for them. Successful completion of BLAW courses may also send a positive signal to law schools.” However, there are career paths in business law that don't require a law degree, such as regulatory compliance and social responsibility which are areas offered by our department. Having subject-matter expertise, combined with analytical thinking and excellent communication skills, are important qualities for a successful career in marketing and business law.
“Obviously, students need to master the technical aspects of their field of study,” Professor Berger-Walliser says, “However, I think creativity, critical thinking, intercultural competence, written and oral communication and interpersonal skills are equally important. In general, I encourage students to show that they are intellectually curious. These days, any given industry requires us to be life-long learners.”
Professor Berger-Walliser shares her vision for the future of the marketing department: “In addition to the interdisciplinary work that I have already mentioned, it is important to me to get our students career ready. We are already doing a lot in this area, but I am hoping to further enhance experiential learning opportunities and industry collaboration. I cannot stress enough how important it is for our students to seek out and participate in these opportunities, and to attend events like the upcoming marketing and sales career day.”
We are very excited about the leadership and vision Professor Gerlinde Berger-Walliser will bring to the Marketing Department! To learn more about her background and publications, visit THIS link.
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