SAN BERNARDINO - The U.S. Department of Agriculture it's more than just farming. That is according to three Cal State San Bernardino educators who spent their summer at its headquarters.

Criminal justice professor Brian Levin, education professor Laura Howzell Young and Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship director Michael Stull spent several weeks in Washington, D.C., among 15 fellows with the department's Hispanic-Serving Institution.

The title suggests a focus on Latino students, but the three looked more broadly than that. If the university as a whole improved, they reasoned, services to Latino students would also improve.

The first week of July, they got an introduction to the department and its numerous divisions.

"It's kind of like the Rodney Dangerfield of government agencies,' Levin said. "But it's a huge enterprise. I don't think people realize.'

Then the fellows were free to hook up with other government agencies depending on their subject areas. Terrorism expert Levin, for example, spent most of his time at the FBI Academy. He worked on a book and a future anti-terrorism training class with a friend who teaches there. He also taught classes on types of terrorists and hate crimes.

He spent long days huddled in the academy's library, complete with hard-to-come-by books, transcripts and videos of governmental hearings and State Department briefings, with closed-caption CNN playing on little TVs and, best of all, free photocopying. Levin shipped boxes of documents back to California.

"It's going to take months to go through it all,' Levin said.

Levin did some live research too. He was briefed on terrorism by people at the State Department and ate breakfast Rita Katz, author of "Terrorist Hunter.'

Stull spent about about a month networking with people from small business and economic development agencies and organizations. During his last three weeks, Stull met with about 45 people.

"I tried to stretch out and meet with a really interesting group of people,' Stull said. "I brought back just a ton of information and ideas.'

Stull said he was hanging out one day in the Small Business Administration building and decided to drop in on a few people he hadn't met yet. Talking to one about an upcoming project at Cal State, he may have stumbled on some extra grant money.

"That's the difference between being out here and calling people,' Stull said, "and being there and sitting down face to face.'

Another administrator offered to speak with Cal State San Bernardino students the next time he's in California.

Young was the only Cal State fellow who stuck close to the Department of Agriculture during her entire visit. With baby boomers nearing retirement, government agencies need young workers to replace them. But, she said, many young people don't know what's out there.

And the Department of Agriculture has a serious image problem, especially with black and Latino students.

"When you see agriculture, you think cows and grapes and cotton and they don't want it,' Young said. "They don't see it as a viable career. It's up to us to make people aware these are viable careers.'