The national capital just won't be the same following the news that two UC Davis political scientists have taken prestigious appointments. Larry Berman, nationally renowned for his expertise on the presidency and Vietnam, has accepted a new job as founding director of the UC Center in Washington, D.C. Although he will remain on the UC Davis faculty, Berman will be on the East Coast for the next five years serving as the systemwide academic administrator of the eight-campus capital program, which will open a new educational center in June 2001. In the meantime, Bruce Jentleson, who has led the UC Davis Washington Center since its inception nine years ago, minus a few sabbaticals to work for then-Sen. Al Gore and the State Department, will begin a new job Jan. 1 with Duke University in Durham, N.C. Jentleson will direct the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, named after the former Duke president, state governor and U.S. senator. Jentleson, who has expertise in U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, will be a professor in two departments, public policy and political science. He is leaving UC Davis after 16 years on the faculty. Jentleson is the reason that UC Davis is acknowledged by others in the UC system for having the leading campus presence in Washington, said Peter Dale, vice provost for undergraduate studies. "We have the best program in the system because it was well taken care of by an absolutely first-rate faculty member," Dale said. Dale's opinion is echoed by Berman, who spent the last two quarters pinch-hitting as Washington Center director while Jentleson has been on a year's sabbatical at the U.S. Institute of Peace, working on a book about preventing ethnic conflicts in the post-Cold War world. "Bruce is singularly responsible for the success of the Davis program and the reputation that it has today in the system," Berman said. Since the center began, nearly 1,000 UC Davis students have spent a quarter in Washington, working in internships and doing research projects as part of their "education away" experience. Berman said his seven months in Washington have allowed him to appreciate how Jentleson created an excellent internship placement program with careful staff oversight. He was particularly impressed with Jentleson's development of a research component as reinforcement to the students' educational experience. According to Jentleson, UC Davis has offered the broadest opportunities for its campus community because it has received enthusiastic support from Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. Graduate students benefit, too "Davis has had the most students of any campus, offering the widest range of programs," Jentleson said. "We also have had the most opportunities for graduate students with internships and pre-doctoral experiences." Davis was the only UC campus to offer its students telecourses, created collaboratively by Jentleson and Berman. Over the past several years, they have invited leading governmental figures to a studio in Washington to sit before a camera. Via the teleconference, Berman's political science classes in California have been able to ask the officials questions about politics and government. Telecourse guests included Newt Gingrich, speaker of the House of Representatives (for whom Berman flew to Washington to interview), and Mike McCurry, press secretary to President Clinton. The Washington Center has also offered rich opportunities to visiting UC Davis faculty members from a number of disciplines. UC Davis is the only campus to offer quarterly faculty research grants, Jentleson said. Berman said that he expects the new $40 million UC center will create a synergy among the UC programs in Washington, many of which are also very strong. The building will break ground at the corner of Rhode Island and Massachusetts avenues this October and be completed in two years. "It's very exciting because we're building an institutional presence in Washington," Berman said. Jentleson believes that Berman will be an asset to the UC program. "Larry brings great energy and a real sense of vision to this project," he said. Living and learning on site The new building will have numerous functions. Rather than living in dormitories in Virginia as they do now, students will be able to live on site in the capital. Besides apartments, the building also will have state-of-the-art classrooms and auditoriums, offices for visiting faculty, and space for the UC Office of Federal Relations. "My goal is to provide a coherent set of inter-disciplinary academic opportunities at all levels--undergraduate, graduate and research," Berman said. Vice Provost Dale will be filling the UC Davis Washington Center directorship on a short-term basis. Because Dale leaves his post Oct. 1, his successor, African American and African Studies professor Pat Turner, will be recruiting among the Davis faculty for the next long-term director.