A group of faculty members at UC Merced has been awarded a $1 million seed grant from the National Science Foundation to form a research collaborative to expand participation and access to materials, research-focused facilities, education, training and careers.
UC Merced has received the 2024 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, making it the second straight year the university has earned the distinction. The award, given by Insight Into Diversity magazine, recognizes institutions of higher education for their outstanding commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Every Thursday, Chef Maria Maravilla arrives on campus at 5 a.m. In the kitchen, she carefully grinds spices and chops vegetables, both for her special creation and to top it off. She boils 300 pounds of barbacoa before placing all the ingredients into a large kettle.
When the Pavilion Dining Center opens for lunch, about 600 people will get to savor the rewards of Maravilla’s labor: homemade pozole.
Black and Hispanic faculty members seeking promotion at research universities face career-damaging biases, with their scholarly production judged more harshly than that of their peers, according to a groundbreaking initiative co-led by UC Merced that aims to uncover the roots of these biases and develop strategies for change.
In recognition for its continuing efforts to advance Latino student success, UC Merced has earned recertification of the prestigious Seal of Excelencia. The Seal is a national certification for institutions that strive to go beyond enrollment and more intentionally serve Latino students.
He studied in hallowed halls of academia. His highly respected research takes him halfway around the globe into societies both foreign and familiar. In his newest role, he leads the largest school of a research university less than two decades old but soaring in reputation and influence.
Yet if you ask Leo Arriola about his journey, he uses a surprising word.
“I’m accidental in every possible way,” he said. “Professor. Administrator. Statistically, I shouldn’t be in this position.”
UC Merced has received a $750,000 boost to its mission to invest in the San Joaquin Valley’s unique cultural, creative and linguistic wealth by working with the region’s people to strengthen communities and champion social justice.
Ph.D. student Micah Oeur has been awarded a 2024-2025 UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship to support her physics research and boost her goal to be a professor.
PPPF’s goal is to enhance faculty pathways for historically underrepresented groups, particularly Chicanx/Latinx, African Americans, American Indians/Native Americans, Filipinx and Pacific Islanders in all disciplines; women in STEM; and Asian Americans in the humanities and social sciences.
Professor Leonardo R. Arriola from UC Berkeley has been named dean of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) as of Aug. 1.
Vice Chancellor and Provost Betsy Dumont made the announcement today, saying Arriola was chosen after a nationwide search that produced a diverse array of candidates.
“Flora,” a film by UC Professor Yehuda Sharim, earned an award from the Latino and Native American Film Festival.
The film, which Sharim describes as a memoir of post-teen daughters of immigrants who must teach themselves about love and tenderness in a world dominated by unnecessary suffering and pain, won the festival’s Environmental, Social, Economic, Political Justice Award.
