About UC Merced

A Focus on Research

Chemist Jason Hein recycles the acetone used in his lab, a practice that is both cost-effective and environmentally sound.

Just like at other UC campuses, academic research is a critical part of UC Merced's mission. The process of discovery provides our students with a deeper understanding of the world and its cultural, social, natural and engineered systems.

Special research institutes established at the university include:

• Health Sciences Research Institute
• Sierra Nevada Research Institute
• UC Merced Energy Research Institute
• University of California Advanced Solar Technologies Institute

In addition, startup funding has been received for the:

• UC Merced Center for Computational Biology
• Center of Excellence for the Study of Health Disparities in Rural and Ethnic Underserved Populations
• UC Merced Center for Research in the Humanities and Arts

UC Merced has also entered into collaborative research partnerships with the:

• Central Valley Higher Education Consortium
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• National Park Service

UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland is leading the campus as it continues on the path to becoming a renowned research university.

UC Merced Leadership

In May 2011, the UC Board of Regents appointed Georgia College & State University President Dorothy Leland as UC Merced's chancellor. She took office July 1, 2011, following the retirement of Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang. He took office March 1, 2007, following the retirement of Founding Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, who died in 2009.

A Member of the UC System

Like all University of California campuses, UC Merced operates under the direction of the UC president and is governed by The Regents of the University of California, a 26-member board established under the California Constitution.

UC Merced is the first new UC campus built since 1965. It was authorized by the California Legislature in 1988 to address the higher-education needs of the state's fastest-growing region — the San Joaquin Valley, with a population of 6.5 million residents — and increase access to the UC system for the state's top achievers.

UC Merced was established in the Valley partly to address chronically low levels of educational attainment in the region. Since the fall of 2004, the year before UC Merced opened, applications to UC campuses from Central Valley residents have increased 51 percent and admissions have risen 47 percent (as of 2009).

A Strategic Investment

UC Merced strives to help improve the standard of education within the Valley through educational outreach centers in Bakersfield and Fresno. These centers offer:

• Professional development programs for K-12 teachers and administrators
• Interaction with students at each of the 144 Valley high schools
• Educational opportunities for students who want to take summer classes

UC Merced also contributes to the economic growth of Central California. In the San Joaquin Valley, where unemployment and poverty rates substantially exceed California averages, campus construction has supported thousands of jobs, stimulating new business development and pumping millions of dollars into the local economy each year. In addition:

• Our faculty research initiatives and administrative projects have brought in more than $135.6 million in grants and contracts since 2003, including $22.3 million received in fiscal year 2011-12.
• The university is one of the largest employers in Merced County with more than 1,145 employees, including faculty and staff members.
• The campus's economic contribution to the region and the state of California is nearing $5 billion since the beginning of operations in July 2000.
• UC Merced's future medical school will increase access to health care for Valley residents and address the specific health problems commonly found here.

All of our buildings are constructed to meet and earn LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Green from the Ground Up

UC Merced is the only U.S. university with every building on campus environmentally certified. As of December 2012, we have:

• Eight LEED Gold buildings
• One LEED Silver building
• Four with LEED Gold certification pending
• Five planned to achieve LEED Platinum status

We are also pledged to a Triple Zero Commitment, an ambitious plan to consume zero net energy and produce zero landfill waste and zero net emissions on our campus by 2020. This means we will increase efficiency and renewable energy production, eliminate campus waste to landfills and prevent as many carbon emissions as we produce.

UC Merced focuses on many practices across campus that enhance its sustainability. Other initiatives include:

• A recyclable take-out dining system at the Yablokoff-Wallace Dining Center that is projected to save the campus thousands of pounds of packaging each year;
• Campus purchasing practices that promote the acquisition of items made from recycled materials and use minimal packaging;
• A 1 megawatt solar-panel array that helps power the campus;
• Campus water stations that allow people to refill water bottles, rather than buying new ones

Also part of our green-campus goal is land conservation. University officials — through a special collaboration with the Packard Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Nature Conservancy and the state of California — have set aside 25,000 acres of grassland habitat for permanent conservation, 6,000 acres of which will be a vernal pool reserve.

PG&E has donated two Honda Civics, powered by natural gas, to UC Merced.

Philanthropic Support

Private support lies at the heart of our university's vital partnerships with the community. Our gracious donors have continued to show support for UC Merced's mission by contributing funds to fill the gap where public funding ends. Between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, UC Merced received $3.9 million in private gifts and grants. This tremendous support ensures that our university has the opportunity to continue research efforts that enhance the lives of Californians for years to come.