University of California, Merced

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University of California, Merced

UCM Seal (Trademark of UC Regents)
Motto Fiat lux (Let there be light)
Established 2005
Type Public
Endowment $19.2 million[1]
Chancellor Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang
Faculty 85 [1]
Students 1,300 [2]
Location Merced, California
Campus Rural, 910 acres (3.7 km²)
Colors Royal blue and gold
Mascot Golden Bobcat
Website www.ucmerced.edu

The University of California, Merced (UC Merced), located in the San Joaquin Valley at Merced, California, is the tenth University of California campus. The campus groundbreaking ceremony was held October 25, 2002, and the first day of classes was September 6, 2005. UC Merced is the first American research university built in the 21st century.

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[edit] Organization and governance

UC Merced is headed by a Chancellor. The position has been held by Carol Tomlinson-Keasey since 1999. She resigned as Chancellor on August 31, 2006, and plans to return to teaching and research in psychology in 2007. [3]

On September 21, 2006, the Regents of the University of California named Roderic B. Park, a former interim chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, as the acting chancellor for UC Merced. [4] After a nation-wide search, on January 17, 2007, they officially named Sung-Mo (Steve) Kang, dean of the University of California, Santa Cruz school of engineering to be the university's new chancellor. [5] Roderic Park will remain acting chancellor until Kang takes office in early March 2007.

Although UC Merced is located in a rural area associated with agriculture, it emphasizes cutting edge interdisciplinary research grounded in natural science, math, and engineering. The campus takes advantage of the surrounding environment by investigating issues relating to environmental systems of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada, and of its youth by having programs in genetic research conducted in state of the art research labs. It also benefits from proximity to Silicon Valley and other major universities. Research in fields like language acquisition and cultural issues is facilitated by the highly diverse ethnic makeup of the Central Valley.

Merced operates on a semester basis rather than the quarter system for its academic term. The Berkeley campus is the only other UC campus on a semester system.

[edit] Academics

The Science and Engineering Building, under construction as of January, 2006.
The Science and Engineering Building, under construction as of January, 2006.

It has three schools:

  1. School of Engineering
  2. School of Natural Sciences
  3. School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts

The undergraduate majors that are offered to new applicants include:

  • Applied Mathematical Sciences, BS
  • Bioengineering, BS
  • Biological Sciences, BS
  • Chemical Sciences, BS
  • Cognitive Science, BS, BA
  • Computer Science and Engineering, BS
  • Earth System Science, BS
  • Economics, BA
  • Environmental Engineering, BS
  • History, BA
  • Literatures and Cultures, BA
  • Management, BS
  • Material Sciences and Engineering, BS
  • Mechanical Engineering, BS
  • Physics, BS
  • Political Science, BA
  • Psychology, BA

The undergraduate minors that are offered include:

  • American Studies
  • Anthropology
  • Arts
  • Cognitive Science
  • Economics
  • History
  • Management
  • Natural Sciences Education
  • Philosophy
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Services Science
  • Sociology
  • Spanish
  • Writing

The Graduate Programs that are offered include:

[edit] Kolligian Library

The U.C. Merced library
The U.C. Merced library

The library was the first building to open on campus. During the Fall 2005 semester, all academic courses were conducted in the library. Its official motto is "Not what other research libraries are, what they will be."

The Library building is named for Leo and Dottie Kolligian. The first floor of the library was dedicated by Ed and Jeanne Kashian. The McFadden-Willis Reading Room is located on the fourth floor and named in honor of the McFadden and Willis children by Christine McFadden. The Library also has a technology classroom dedicated by Doris Gonella in honor of her late husband Louis, The Gonella Discovery Room.

There is a café located on the first floor, and doors roll up in good weather providing an indoor/outdoor feel. Over 100 laptop computers are available for checkout. Currently, the electronic holdings are more than three times the size of the print holdings, consisting of about 15,000 online journals and 150,000 electronic books, in addition to 46,000 print books.

[edit] Research institutes

Planned Institutes

  • MERI (Merced Energy Research Institute)
  • The Biomedical and Systems Biology Research Institute
  • National Parks Institute

[edit] Campus layout

The campus is bounded by Lake Yosemite on one side and two canals run through the campus. The buildings will be grouped into "neighborhoods" by academic discipline, much in the manner of the Irvine campus. The campus master plan, as well as its first buildings, were designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

[edit] Athletics

Unlike other UC campuses, UC Merced does not have any official varsity athletic teams. However, it does have intramural and club sports.

On November 13, 2006, the University officially opened its gymnasium. The "Joseph Edward Gallo Recreation and Wellness Center", named after a man who donated money to the facility's construction, features a "NCAA-sized basketball court, workout facilities, room for performances, wellness and fitness education and the Rajender Reddy Student Health Center". [6]

At the opening of the facility, UC Merced officials stated their intent to have competitive sports teams, starting with baseball, men's soccer and aquatics, and women's soccer and volleyball. The campus' long-term goal is to compete at the NCAA Division II level.

[edit] Student life

About 600 students currently live on campus in the Valley Terraces housing area, 4.2 miles away from the city of Merced. The campus dining area offers a variety of ethnic foods including Asian, Mexican, and Italian. The on-campus housing system does not have kitchens for student use, but allows the use and storage of a refrigerator and a microwave oven. The dining commons are closed during Thanksgiving weekend, Spring Break, Veterans' Day, Presidents Day, and Cesar Chavez day.

The campus diversity in its first year: 37% Asian American, 25% Latino, 25% Caucasian, 6% African American, and 0.7% Native American. The remaining students declined to specify their ethnicity.

The campus is not as established as other UC schools, and the city is not yet active as a college town. Many students find a short trip to the city of Fresno worthwhile for increased entertainment options (or a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area), as choices are very limited in the immediate Merced area. The university attempts to engage students in on-campus activities like dances and movie nights. Many students go to Lake Yosemite which is near the main campus. Students can walk, jog, picnic, barbeque, and swim at the lake. Merced has several artistic venues which host plays, concerts, and art shows. They include The Mainzer Theater, Merced Multicultural Arts Center, and Playhouse Merced. Castle Air Museum is within close driving distance from Merced. Merced is known as the "Gateway to Yosemite" and it is common for students to take day trips to Yosemite where they can hike, rock climb, and camp overnight.

Student publications include "The Prodigy" newspaper, "The Fury Shrimp Times" and literary journals, "The Kumquat" and "Imagination Dead Imagine".

[edit] Student government

The student governments at UC Merced comprise the Graduate Student Association (GSA) and the undergraduate body called the Associated Students of UC Merced (ASUCM).

(i) The founding graduate students, who joined the Graduate School of UC Merced in early 2004, initiated the GSA in that year, before the university officially opened its doors to undergraduate students in the fall of 2005. The constitution and by-laws were prepared by them. They were then approved by all the graduate students.

For more information about the Graduate Student Association of UC Merced, please visit http://ucmercedgsa.wordpress.com.

(ii)The undergraduate students of UC Merced have recently inititated and established their first student government. The Committee on Constitution and By-Laws was established in fall 2005 and was responsible for writing the constitution for the Associated Students of UC Merced (ASUCM).

Elections for the ratification of the constitution were held in April, 2006. The constitution was approved by a majority of the student body, officially establishing ASUCM, which serves as the official representative and voice of students at UC Merced.

For more information about the undergraduate student government, visit http://www.asucm.org/.

[edit] Notable faculty

[edit] Clubs

[edit] References

  1. ^ Table I, Total University Endowment Assets by Donor Designation to Regents and Foundation (PDF). Annual Endowment Report, Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2006. Office of the Treasurer of The Regents of the University of California. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.

[edit] External links

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Campuses Berkeley • Davis • Hastings • Irvine • Los Angeles • Merced • Riverside • San Diego • San Francisco • Santa Barbara • Santa Cruz
UC Medical System San Francisco • Los Angeles • San Diego • Davis • Irvine
Research Stations Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory • Los Alamos National Laboratory (affiliated) • Lick Observatory • Keck Observatory
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