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FALL 2012

Advance, Cornell ILR School's publication for alumni and friends.

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Supporting Discovery of Passions Through Internship M arilyn Berger '65 is giving today's ILR students the opportunity she never had. Through Cornell United Religious Work, Berger spent a week in the South in 1963 studying segregation — an experience she describes as "probably the highlight of my college career. It was absolutely eye-opening, and something I never forgot." Berger did find a job with a labor union after graduating, becoming educational director for a local of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. "It would have helped if I had been an intern — I would have met the right people and known what was available to me," she says. "I didn't have the opportunity to do that, because I didn't have the money." Now, by creating the Marilyn J. and Albert J. Berger Internship Program, she and her husband, Albert '63, are making unpaid and low-paid internships possible for ILR "Knowing what I know now about internships, I think the availability of one might have introduced me to a different life." That experience sparked her interest in a summer internship with Crossroads Africa. But, since she relied on summer earnings to pay her living expenses during the school year, she couldn't take an unpaid internship. Similarly, she didn't pursue an internship with a labor union, which would have eased the way for a job in that sector. 2 students in a similar predicament. The program, established through a $100,000 annuity, funds internships with labor unions or associations helping labor. "Albert also was a student of little means, and Cornell supported him after his father died," Berger says. "As a chemical engineering student, though, he had access to paid summer internships, and he saw the value in that." The Bergers made their gift last fall, following a campus visit. "We were both very impressed with how the school is moving forward — in internships, in its philosophy, in maintaining ties with the labor program," she says. After Cornell, Berger went on to earn a law degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and to a career in law and legal education. She currently is professor emeritus at the Seattle University School of Law, where she has taught since 1978. Berger was at ILR last fall to screen "Out of the Ashes: 9/11," about the 9/11 families and their experience with the Victim Compensation Fund. Berger wrote, codirected and produced the film under the auspices of the Films for Justice Institute, which she established in 1995 to market her first documentary, "Lessons From Woburn." "Knowing what I know now about internships, I think the availability of one might have introduced me to a different life," she says. "I might have seen earlier how my interest in interviewing, my interest in photography (she was a professional photographer) and my interest in film led naturally to documentary filmmaking. I wish I'd found that passion earlier." The Bergers' gift will help many more students discover their passions sooner. Stories are important to Berger, who has used them in her films, teaching and advocacy textbooks. She came to documentary filmmaking by way of her favorite book, "In Cold Blood," which she admires for "taking this legal subject and making it into a riveting story that both entertains and educates about the criminal justice system." ADVANCE

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