Contact:
Jeremy Craig, 404-413-1357
University Relations
ATLANTA — Georgia State University Provost Risa Palm announced today (April 21) that Dr. Larry Berman, currently professor of political science at the University of California-Davis, will serve as the founding dean of the university's Honors College, effective Jan. 3, 2012.
"President Becker and I look forward to working with Dr. Berman to launch the Honors College on a trajectory that will fulfill a major component of the University Strategic Plan goal of building a national model for undergraduate education," the provost said.
Under the Strategic Plan, the Honors College will advocate for the educational experiences and resources needed by GSU's high-ability students. The college will be a place where faculty can work with GSU's most talented students to advance undergraduate scholarship, enhance research, foster service, and compete for prestigious awards and fellowships.
"I am eagerly awaiting the leadership challenges as we transform the Honors program into an Honors College," Dr. Berman said. "My goal as Founding Dean is that our Honors College be recognized as a ‘community' for innovation, intellectual challenge and service; to be recognized nationally in the top tier of Honors Colleges."
"I am especially heartened by the commitment of President Becker and Provost Palm to this vision of engagement and excellence that will make the realization of the new Strategic Plan a reality."
Dr. Berman, who completed his doctorate at Princeton University in 1977, joined the faculty at UC-Davis after earning his Ph.D. He has become an internationally recognized expert on American politics, foreign policy, the American presidency, and the war in Vietnam.
The founding director of the University of California Washington Center and director of the Davis Washington program, he also served as department chair for eight years. Dr. Berman has been awarded multiple fellowships, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council for Learned Societies.
He has been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and a scholar-in-residence at the Rockefeller Foundation's Center in Bellagio, Italy. Additionally, he became the first political scientist to receive the Bernath Lecture Prize.
A committed teacher, he has received the Outstanding Mentor of Women in Political Science Award from the Women's Caucus for Political Science. He is the 2010 recipient of the highest honor that the Davis Division of the Academic Senate accords its members, the Faculty Research Lecturer Award. In June 2010 he was also awarded the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.
Dr. Berman is the author of several noted publications including "Planning a Tragedy: The Americanization of the War in Vietnam," "Lyndon Johnson's War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam," "No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnam," and "Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter and Vietnamese Communist Agent."
Dr. Berman's forthcoming book, published by HarperCollins, is a biography of Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, Jr., who rose to command of the U.S. Navy during the 1970s, when initiated sweeping reforms that modernized the fleet and challenged institutional racism.
April 21, 2011