Harriet Berger

Harriet Fleisher Berger (died May 4, 2012) was an American political scientist. She was a professor of History and Politics at Drexel University from 1967 to 1988. She specialized in the study of collective bargaining, union activism, and constitutional law in the United States. She was the first woman to obtain a PhD in political science from the University of Pennsylvania, 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, where she completed her bachelor's degree in 1938. 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 1967 Berger completed a doctorate on collective bargaining, 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, and she also studied constitutional law.

Berger was married to the Philadelphia city solicitor David Berger, who worked in the administration of mayor Richardson Dilworth 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.