UC Merced political science students returned to Sacramento to get first-hand experience at California’s Capitol with internships.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day and Jubilee Day, was first celebrated on June 19, 1866 as an annual event to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the United States. It has, for 154 years, invited Americans to remember our 401-year commitment to freedom and equality, while reminding us of the precariousness of Black freedom. If we reflect more deeply, Juneteenth calls upon us to consider the many contributions that African Americans have made to this country...see more
Professor Matthew Zawadzki is with the Department of Psychological Sciences in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. His research examines social psychological processes as applied to health. This is the second of two parts....
Professor Matthew Zawadzki is with the Department of Psychological Sciences in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. His research examines social psychological processes as applied to health. This is the first of a two-part discussion...
SSHA would like to recognize the following Outstanding Graduating Students:
Diana Monique Lara: B.A. in English and minor in Writing Studies
Jose Andres Rosa Jr: B.A. in Economics
Alejandra Tenorio Zurita: B.A. in Spanish
Hazel Nicole Valenzuela: B.A. in Global Arts Studies Program
Blanca L. Betancourt-Santoyo: B.A. in Anthropology and minor in Spanish
Omar Gonzalez – B.A. in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies
Sarah Jordan Lee – B.A. in History
Osvaldo Arce Valencia – B.A. in Political Science
Larissa Elena Shashte – B.A. in Psychology
Harmony Makhfi - B.S. in Cognitive Science
Since the onset of many governors’ stay-at-home orders, there are fewer cars on the road as fewer people are driving to work. While some people can work from home, sadly, some are not working at all.
Arturo Arias, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation professor in the Humanities at UC Merced, has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for his ground-breaking study of contemporary indigenous novels from Guatemala and Mexico.
Arias was one of 173 American and Canadian fellows announced Wednesday by the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Smokers and former smokers are not only more susceptible to COVID-19, they are far more likely to see their conditions worsen over time and to require intensive respiratory assistance, according to a review released Thursday by the UC Merced Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC).
The Whiting Public Engagement Program has awarded a $50,000 fellowship to Professor Ma Vang for her efforts to integrate the experiences of refugees into education for high school students in Merced County and beyond....
From a young age, Maria Ramirez Loyola has been fascinated by the trait of resiliency.
Her mother escaped an abusive marriage and fled from Mexico to the U.S. with two small children in tow. Ramirez Loyola witnessed first-hand the stress and sleepless nights her mother endured to make ends meet and support her and her younger brother....
Psychology Professor Eric Walle found something interesting when he studied babies who were walking compared to those who were crawling: Babies who walk are not only more mobile, they have vocabularies that are significantly larger than those of the crawlers....
Interdisciplinary Humanities graduate student Gina Palefsky has been awarded a highly competitive Dissertation Fieldwork Grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation. The foundation supports research in all sub-fields of anthropology, and Ms. Palefsky's project is a bioarchaeological study in keeping with the work of her dissertation advisor Prof. Christina Torres-Rouff. Entitled "Embodied Boundaries: A Bioarchaeological Approach to Foodways and Community Organization in Metal Age Central Thailand (c. 1100 BCE - CE 500)," this study will analyze mortuary populations from four archaeological sites in central Thailand to investigate how community organization changed in response to complex social processes of contact and immigration during the Metal Age. Ms. Palefsky seeks to characterize changes in community organization in terms of immigration and biological relationships and assess how foodways may have united or divided Metal Age people across lines of biocultural identity.
Antonio Sanchez broke new ground for musical storytelling with his award-winning soundtrack for “Birdman.” He’s earned multiple Grammys for his work with guitar master Pat Metheny. Now, Sanchez, one of the most acclaimed drummers and composers in jazz today, is heading to Merced for a one-night performance....
Many faculty members are experts in their fields, pioneering new ways to think about complex subject matter. But how does one communicate that research in a simple way, specifically when seeking funding to further their research? That’s where the Office of Research Development steps in...
Chia Thao was a teenager when she arrived in Fresno with her family to begin a new life. She was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, where her Laotian parents had fled after the Vietnam War...
Nearly 200 students took part in the campus’s Fall Commencement exercise Sunday at the Joseph Edward Gallo Recreation and Wellness Center as friends and family cheered them on...
Political science Professor Jessica Trounstine has been awarded the inaugural UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees Presidential Chair....
As a child, Kevin Dawson traveled from California to visit his grandmother in Harlem, where he recalls playing in Jackie Robinson Park. Dawson, an avid swimmer and surfer, would peer through a fence with his cousins to check out the park’s large swimming pool...
Archaeology Professor Mark Aldenderfer ventured to the Austrian Alps recently to deliver a keynote address at the International Mountain Conference in Innsbruck.
Aldenderfer’s presentation, “ The Deep Prehistory of the Human Presence in the World’s Highest Mountains and Plateaus,” traced the expansion of our hominid ancestors into high-elevation environments some 1 million years ago to the settlement of humans in mountainous terrain within the past 40,000 years.
To successfully thrive at elevations beyond 3,000 meters required behavioral as well as genetic adaptations, he said. Things we take for granted — fire and clothing — were critical to these adaptations.
“Mountains have given us challenges, but we’ve been able to adapt to them due to our behavioral flexibility and genomes,” said Aldenderfer, who is a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Endowed Chair.
Connecting human history to current discussions on climate change, Aldenderfer said it’s important for climate scientists to bear in mind the deep history of humans living in high-elevation environments.
Small farmers who have lived in the Himalayas for thousands of years, for example, are being impacted by changing cycles of precipitation and temperatures.
“We know the effects of climate warming are going to be grim,” Aldenderfer said. “We don’t yet know what the full effects will be.”
Aldenderfer’s Sept. 10 address to more than 500 attendees was part of the fourth International Mountain Conference, which encourages in-depth cross-disciplinary discussions toward a new understanding of mountain systems, their responses and resiliencies.
The next IMC, also to be held in Innsbruck, is slated for 2022.
Complex societies produce people with more varied personalities. That’s the surprising finding of a cognitive science study that attempts to understand how people develop into who they are: social and ecological environments in which we develop have a lot to do with it....
Six faculty members have been named this year’s Hellman Fellows — two from each of UC Merced’s schools.
The 2019-20 winners are:
Since his undergraduate days in Environmental Studies at Humboldt State University, Ivan Soto has aspired to produce research with a positive impact on the public — not just to benefit the academic community...
Anne Zanzucchi has worn many different hats in her 14 years at UC Merced and now she is preparing to enter her newest role as associate dean for Student Services and Academics for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA)....
What is art’s place in turbulent times? How does an immigrant live and thrive in a host country with laws that render one’s existence alien? And how does one continue to see beauty even in the face of grave injustice?...
Hundreds of accomplished students walked in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) commencement earlier this month, proudly wearing their cap, gown and stole. Among them were a handful of students wearing one additional item: a gold medal hung on a blue and yellow ribbon inscribed with the UC Merced seal.
There’s a striking image of “San Andres” that was recently on display at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center. The illumination of the saint’s torso and visage are iconic.
Where do Shakespeare and swing dancing collide? At UC Merced’s Global Arts, Media & Writing Studies (GAMWS) Spring Showcase.
Finals are a busy time for students, but that didn’t stop UC Merced’s sociology undergraduates from kicking off their first annual Alpha Kappa Delta Research Symposium on April 19.
A handful of UC faculty received the 2019-2020 University of California President’s Faculty Research Fellowship. Among them is Aditi Chandra, an assistant professor of global arts, media and writing studies at UC Merced.
Unlike traditional theater productions, there was no red curtain, special lighting, microphone feedback or elaborate stage makeup at Shakespeare in Yosemite....
The number of people being deported from the United States is at a historic high and one UC Merced professor is on the ground-level, meeting with family members of those affected to better understand the traumatic consequences of deportation....
William Shakespeare’s plays are meant to be enjoyed by a live, theater audience and there is no better place to experience The Bard than Yosemite National Park....
Kisha McGuire has discovered an opportunity to do what she loves for an institution she’s grown to care deeply about.
McGuire graduated from UC Merced in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, and soon started a full-time staff position in the Fiat Lux Scholars Program within the campus’s Calvin E. Bright Success Center....
UC Merced honored nearly 200 employees for their loyalty to the university and higher education at the annual Celebrating Service breakfast earlier this week....
The majority of people who die by suicide do so with firearms, and there were more firearm suicides in America in 2017 than there were homicides committed by any method. Combined....
New student orientation and learning assistance coordinator Dulcemaria Anaya and School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts graduate specialist Karla Seijas were recognized as 2019 Latina Women of the Year at a luncheon earlier this month. The Merced County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosted the event recognizing three women for their work in the community....
The explorer mentality, public health Professor Stephen Wooding said, is what sets the students of UC Merced apart from anywhere else. A willingness to try something new, to go somewhere they’d never thought possible, is a part of the Bobcat DNA...
Certain aspects of children's social cognition ripple throughout their lives, including whether small children can understand that other people’s minds are different than their own...
Some people have the idea that the arts are being shortchanged as UC Merced grows.
The Global Arts, Media and Writing Studies (GAMWS) Program is here to correct that perception with its inaugural Arts Week, set for March 4-9....
The finale of the 13th annual Human Rights Film Series at UC Merced will feature two films from new Global Arts Studies Program Professor Yehuda Sharim...
For Merced native Tessa Provins, the opportunity to attend UC Merced for her graduate education was a chance to come home again — but it wasn’t simply the familiar location that drew her to the campus...
For Merced native Tessa Provins, the opportunity to attend UC Merced for her graduate education was a chance to come home again — but it wasn’t simply the familiar location that drew her to the campus....
When pondering faith and redemption, the concept of “making good” on the past can be a crucial step in moving forward.
Professor Edward Orozco Flores’s new book, “Jesus Saved an Ex-Con: Political Activism and Redemption After Incarceration” explores how formerly incarcerated individuals organize to change their communities with a goal of “making good.”...
Professor Mariaelena Gonzalez has been appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the California Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee (TEROC)....
The University of California Office of the President announced its biennial Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) grants, funding 16 collaborative projects encompassing issues from management of the citrus industry and homelessness to immigration and equality.
UC Merced sociology Professor Zulema Valdez is one of five co-PIs on the UC Collaborative to Promote Immigrant and Student Equity, which garnered a $270,000 grant...
The University of California, Merced, today announced the appointment of longtime faculty member and administrator Gregg Camfield as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.
Camfield has served in the role on an interim basis since the retirement of Thomas W. Peterson on June 1. His appointment follows a nationwide search that included input from throughout the campus community....
A new effort is underway to lay the groundwork for the next major development at UC Merced — a fourth school, this one with the Gallo family name on it.
The planning initiative is a faculty-led effort to create a new, transdisciplinary school that draws upon the expertise of scientists, researchers and practitioners from broad backgrounds to instill the next generations of leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to understand, design and manage complex systems....
Professor ShiPu Wang has been named the Coats Family Chair in the Arts. Wang plans to use funding from the endowment to not only supplement his research, but also to provide a broader experience and education in the arts.
Wang’s connection to the Coats Family goes back to 2011, when he founded the UC Merced Art Gallery. Funds from the endowment, which was one of the first endowed chairs at UC Merced, helped support the art gallery’s initial operations and programming. Wang invited and hosted Isabel Coats for a campus visit after the gallery opened....
In some ways UC Merced is still a blank canvas, even 13 years after opening.
But that just gives this year’s artist in residence Otto Rigan more room to dream as he helps devise a master arts plan for the campus.
“I think the campus is beautiful,” Rigan said, “but it’s missing the unexpected…the voice of the arts. If there had been an arts plan in place all along, art could have been integrated as new buildings emerged.”...
Anew book co-edited by Professor Kathleen Hull highlights nine studies exploring how Native people retained or reimagined their communities in California between 1769 and 1834....
Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú Tum was honored Monday as the 12th distinguished recipient of the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance at the Art Kamangar Center at Merced Theater in downtown Merced....
Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú Tum was honored Monday as the 12th distinguished recipient of the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance at the Art Kamangar Center at Merced Theater in downtown Merced....
The genomes of ancient Andean settlers reveal a complex picture of human adaptation, including when they became able to digest starches and how evolutionary modifications allowed them to live at such high altitudes....
UC Merced is partnering with UC Santa Barbara and two California State University campuses — Fresno and Channel Islands — on a project to create a more diverse STEM faculty at colleges and universities nationwide.
The quartet has been awarded a total of $2 million from the National Science Foundation’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program for a joint research project intended to increase the number of underrepresented minority faculty members in STEM fields....
If you’re an American with Internet access, you’ve probably done it. You get a headache, a sniffle or a mystery bruise, and instead of seeing your doctor, you consult “Dr. Google.”...
A new grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will help UC Merced further diversify its community of graduate students and faculty, beginning with the humanities and humanistic social sciences....
UC Merced psychology Professor Anna Song and biology Professor Jennifer Manilay had a special dinner with UC President Janet Napolitano at her Oakland home recently to honor the faculty members for their work on first-generation student initiatives...
UC Merced faculty members wear multiple hats as teachers, mentors, curriculum creators and researchers who seek innovative solutions to complex problems. During UC Merced’s recent Faculty Convocation, the university recognized faculty members for their contributions to the university....
Cognitive science Professor Teenie Matlock, the McClatchy Chair in Communications , has been appointed interim vice provost for the faculty at UC Merced....
Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum, recognized for her work in social and ethno-cultural reform, has been selected to receive the 2018 Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance at UC Merced....
According to a recent Forbes magazine article, tech companies throughout the U.S. have discovered something universities have known since they began: Liberal arts thinking makes employees stronger....
UC Merced has been awarded a $3.8 million grant to establish the UC Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC), positioning UC Merced and the San Joaquin Valley region as a leading center for the study of public health and policy matters related to tobacco and marijuana....
A new two-year project at UC Merced aims to bring academic and non-academic researchers together to recast the role of the humanities in public policy and, ultimately, improve the lives of San Joaquin Valley residents....
As new director of the Center for the Humanities, Professor Mario Sifuentez ’ sights are set on a fuller understanding of rural communities and how best to help them....
Verenize Arceo of Winton has represented UC Merced at the state Capitol, but her most recent achievement is closer to home...
UC Merced Interdisciplinary Humanities doctoral students made a splash in Spain this summer, presenting papers at the XXXV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) in Barcelona...
UC Merced public health graduate student Erendira “Dida” Estrada's master’s thesis, “Development of a participatory health communication intervention: An ecological approach to reducing rural information inequality and health disparities,” was named Thesis of the Year by the Health Communication divisions of the two most prestigious associations in communication — the International Communication Association (ICA) and the National Communication Association (NCA)...
Professor Whitney Pirtle recently became the first researcher to win the prestigious Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship while employed at UC Merced — a grant that will help her finish writing a book and move her closer to gaining tenure...
Interdisciplinary Humanities Professor Arturo Arias was recently selected to edit a series of indigenous-studies books for the State University of New York (SUNY) Press....
Professor Irenee Beattie and graduate student Melissa Quesada have been awarded a $40,000 research grant from the California Teacher Education and Research Improvement Network (CTERIN) to study the factors associated with teacher retention in underserved schools...
...Two new collaborative papers by UC Merced Economics Professor Kurt Schnier reveal that increasing the incentives and eliminating barriers for donors — both living and deceased — would greatly improve other people’s chances of receiving life-saving transplants....read more.
The Society of Pediatric Psychology has recognized Professor Deborah Wiebe for her body of research on the psychology of adolescent health....read more.
Distinguished Professor Jan Wallander heads to New Orleans today (April 12) to attend a conference and receive the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Pediatric Medicine and Behavioral Health from the Society of Behavioral Medicine Child and Family Health Special Interest Group....read more.
UC Merced graduate student Danielle Bermudez will spend the next 10 months in El Salvador, conducting research and serving as a cultural ambassador for the campus as a Fulbright U.S. Student Researcher...read more.
The American Public Health Association (APHA) presented public health Professor Susana Ramirez with the 2017 Early Career Award at its annual meeting last month...read more.
It’s been five years since Shavone Charles walked across the stage at commencement. On Saturday (Dec. 16), she will return as UC Merced’s first alumni keynote speaker at Fall Commencement...read more.
With race, immigration, rising inequality, gender discrimination and collective mobilization grabbing current headlines, the work of the UC Merced sociology unit — always relevant locally — is gaining wider recognition across the country....read more.
15 UCM undergraduate Sociology majors attended the California Sociological Association annual conference in Sacramento this past Friday and Saturday. They attended half a dozen talks, networked with peers, grad students, and faculty from other campuses, and toured the state capitol building. Four of the students from the UROC program presented research in which they served as assistants this past summer. The students were joined by Soc club advisor Prof. Alegria and graduate students Alejandro Zermeño and Maria Mora...read more.
Professor Laura Giuliano isn’t the only female economics faculty member at UC Merced, but she is the only faculty member who worked in the Obama administration before joining the campus....read more.
If you’ve ever wondered why people stand where they do on the political spectrum, science might have at least part of the answer: People can be biologically predisposed to certain feelings toward politics and society....read more.
Jazz musicians riffing with each other, humans talking to each other and pods of killer whales all have interactive conversations that are remarkably similar to each other, new research reveals...read more.
Examining the power of gender seems like a topic built for today. But UC Merced history Professor Susan Dwyer Amussen’s new book, “Gender, Culture and Politics in England, 1560-1640: Turning the World Upside Down” examines the cultural, social and political history of England and the ways the image of an upside-down world was used to convey the “proper” roles for men and women during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I....read more.
UC Merced recently launched a new standalone Ph.D. program in Public Health, further establishing the university’s commitment to educating the next generation of scholars who are addressing the San Joaquin Valley’s unique health concerns....read more.
Two UC Merced cognitive scientists spent part of their summer in India this year, teaching neuroscience to a group of exiled Tibetan Buddhist monks....read more.
Winona LaDuke has dedicated her life to social change, working nationally and internationally on issues of justice, equity and the environment alongside indigenous communities....read more.
Starting this semester, students in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) will have a new major option: Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES)....read more.
Considering that the United States spends about $3.3 billion on United Nations-related activity each year, including peacekeeping — and President Donald Trump has proposed a 40 percent cut in that spending — this seems like a good time for U.S. policy makers to have a clear understanding of how the U.N. works and how to navigate its politics to get desired outcomes..read more.
Young undocumented Latinos who gain legal status, even on a temporary basis, experience significant positive effects on their psychological well-being, according to a new study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine....read more.
Right now, while you are reading these typewritten words, your hand muscles are moving imperceptibly, but measurably. These movements would be even greater if the words were handwritten....read more.
Chris Fradkin, a UC Merced lecturer and alumnus, is heading to Brazil in search of “lost science.”...read more.
...UC Merced also made a major jump in the psychology rankings, appearing at No. 90 in the nation after debuting at No. 158 in 2015....read more.
Spanish artist Olga Diego blends the concepts of art and engineering into the magic of flight....read more.
A new paper by UC Merced Professor Mark Aldenderfer Opens a New Window. begins to settle a longstanding debate over when people began permanently occupying higher elevations of the Tibetan Plateau, and shows communities did not have to be based around agriculture and domesticated animals to be permanent....read more.
Join UC Merced Professor Mark Aldenderfer as he and his colleagues explore the world’s highest cave tombs, revealing new details about the lives of the people who settled the Himalaya, in the season premiere of “NOVA” on PBS...read more.
Anita Hill’s public testimony during the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991 raised national awareness of sexual harassment and led to many changes in workplace laws and practices to protect both women and men from harassment....read more.
Jill Robbins, dean of the UC Merced School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, has received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support the completion of her book about the role of poetry in the recovery from the 2004 train bombings in Madrid...read more.
