New Staff Member Michelle Bertho
Program Coordinator: France-Berkeley Fund and
French Studies
Michelle has been extremely interested in what is happening in
Europe since the 1950's,
which is why IES is, perhaps, an inevitable stop in her life. The beginning of European
unification in the West first, and then with the Eastern countries after the fall of the
Berlin Wall in 1989, is a phenomenon that she finds fascinating. The unification is
significant to her because the countries choose to join - as opposed to being conquered -
with the intent to create peace, freedom and prosperity. Michelle relates this occurrence
to her creation of mosaic artwork.
"(European unification) is like a mosaic - my passion: broken pieces that we try to put
together to make something beautiful," she said.
She has been teaching French for Business at the Alliance Française in San Francisco
for many years, and is currently teaching at the
University
of San Francisco. Last
year Michelle spent three months in Bruxelles and Strasbourg putting together, at the
request of the students, a class entitled "Overview of the EU" that she later taught
for the French Department at
San Francisco State
University. The class explored several
general aspects of the unification, focusing on the increasing growth and importance of the EU.
Born French, she adopted Berkeley as her home. She has a good understanding of both
culture and of what it takes to make people work together. For a few years, she worked
as a consultant with high-tech companies on cross-cultural issues in the workplace.
Michelle feels that the France-Berkeley Fund in IES is the right place for her because
she can use her knowledge and various contacts to develop the exposure of both the
France-Berkeley Fund and the
French
Studies Program. She is currently working hard to
prepare for the
France-Berkeley Fund's Tenth Anniversary, and event that will be
taking place on September 12.
You can contact Michelle by visiting the
IES
Staff Contact Page.
