Contact:
Kathleen Poe Ross, 404-413-1374
University Relations
ATLANTA – The new year is already off to a strong start for the new Georgia State University Honors College, which welcomed its founding dean to campus on Jan. 3.
"I am eagerly awaiting the leadership challenges as we transform the Honors program into an honors college," Dean Larry Berman said. “My goal as founding dean is that our honors college be acknowledged as a community for innovation, intellectual challenge and service. I want us to be recognized nationally in the top tier of honors colleges.”
Under GSU’s 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.
The Honors College is an evolution of GSU’s Honors Program, which began in 1975 as a unit within the College of Arts and Sciences. The honors community Berman now leads numbers more than 1,300 students. Of the 225 Honors College freshman students who matriculated this past fall, 46 earned GPAs of 4.0 or higher. Honors students can pursue degrees in any of the university’s 62 undergraduate majors. In addition, they have access to merit scholarship aid, designated housing, smaller classes, priority registration, academic advising and research opportunities, among other advantages.
“It’s really an exciting opportunity for exceptional students,” Berman said. “It will be a community that opens doors, not just to careers, but to intellectual curiosity, engagement, community service and internships.”
Berman comes to GSU from the University of California-Davis, where he was a professor of political science. He joined the faculty at UC-Davis after earning his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1977. 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. Berman has been awarded multiple fellowships, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council for Learned Societies.
He 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." In December 2012, HarperCollins will publish his latest book, “Zumwalt: The Life and Times of Admiral Elmo R. ‘Bud’ Zumwalt Jr.”
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 awards its members, the Faculty Research Lecturer Award. In June 2010 he was also awarded the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.
With the launch of the Honors College under Berman’s leadership, GSU is setting out to fulfill a major component of the University strategic plan goal of building a national model for undergraduate education.
“Our greatest resource is our amazing pool of bright and diverse students,” Berman said. “As we follow through on delivering them the resources they need to excel, our college will become a top destination for ambitious, creative and well-qualified students."
Jan. 3, 2012