About UC Merced
UC Merced stands as the embodiment of the promise of California’s future.
The 10th campus in the prestigious University of California system, UC Merced is diverse, growing and committed to those ideals that serve the state, nation and world through education, research and public service.
The university
UC Merced’s unique mission is as a student-centered research university. The campus opened Sept. 5, 2005, alongside Lake Yosemite, and is the first new American research university in the 21st century.
We have three schools:
In addition, we are planning two new schools:
There is an ever-expanding list of majors, minors and and graduate programs, more than 90 full-time faculty members who have come to us from some of the world’s top-ranked universities and dozens of lecturers.
Our student body numbers more than 1,800 (as of September 2007) and is made up of a rainbow of young people who, in addition to being the brightest in the state, share one other trait – they savor the challenge of pioneering a brand-new university. In their first year, students formed more than 75 clubs and organizations, wrote their own constitution and held their first associated students’ election.
UC Merced has offered graduate studies since the first dozen students enrolled for off-campus classes in August 2004. Their ranks have grown to more than 100, and they are participating in some of the most cutting-edge research being conducted today, from stem cells to artificial intelligence and alternate energy.
Special research institutes established at the university include the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, the World Cultures Institute and the Biomedical Sciences Research Institute. Other research institutes are being planned by the faculty. In addition, startup funding has been received for the UC Merced Center for Computational Biology and other cooperative research laboratory facilities in genomics and imaging. UC Merced also has entered into collaborative partnerships with the National Park Service, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium.
The new campus operates educational outreach centers in Bakersfield and Fresno, with dozens of professional-development programs for K-12 teachers and administrators, interaction with students at each of the 144 Valley high schools and educational opportunities for students who want to take classes in the summers.
As of fall 2007, we have 1,000 beds in student housing, our dining commons will expand to serve a larger campus population and the campus will continue to develop.
UC Merced is one of the largest employers in Merced County, with more than 800 employees already.
UC Merced Leadership
Founding Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey returned to teaching after seven years working to open UC Merced and then retired from the UC system. In January 2007, the UC Board of Regents appointed UC Santa Cruz engineering dean Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang as chancellor. He took office March 1, 2007.
Part of the UC System
Like all campuses in the UC system, 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 in 40 years. 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 (population 3.5 million), and provide added capacity for the UC system as a whole.
High school graduates from the Valley have historically enrolled in the UC system at about half the rate of graduates from other major parts of the state. The presence of a new campus in the heart of the Valley is expected to close that gap and inspire the educational dreams of young people in this underserved region for generations to come.
A strategic investment
UC Merced increases educational access and opportunities for Valley students and 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, faculty research initiatives and administrative projects have brought in more than $35 million in grants and contracts since 2003, primarily from federal agencies.
The university’s future includes a medical school that should help ensure the region is better served in its health needs, and a management school.
Green campus
We at UC Merced want to live lightly on the land. Building design and construction at UC Merced emphasize the most advanced techniques in energy and resource conservation and employ cutting-edge “green” building practices that reflect the university’s broad commitment to environmental sustainability. As part of this process, 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.
Philanthropic support
To help launch the new university, enrich student life and provide scholarship funds for students, leading private and corporate philanthropists have pledged more than $60 million in donations since its inception – almost $20 million in the 2005-06 fiscal year alone. Leadership gifts include $13 million from the Packard Foundation, $2 million from the Hewlett Foundation, $5 million from Ernest and Julio Gallo and $5 million from United Healthcare.
