Chancellor

Chancellor Dorothy Leland joined fellow higher education leaders this week to discuss new climate action at the Second Nature 2018 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit in Tempe, Ariz.

On Monday, Leland spoke as part of a four-member panel focused on “The New Normal: 100 percent Clean Energy.”

UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland united with members of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration in Washington, D.C., earlier this week to call on Congress to pass a permanent legislative solution to protect young immigrants known as Dreamers.

More than 80 undergraduate and graduate students gathered in downtown Merced on Dec. 16 for UC Merced’s first-ever Fall Commencement.

Graduates — along with their family and friends, faculty and a score of staff volunteers — assembled for the ceremony, held at the Art Kamangar Center at the Merced Theatre. More than 700 people filled the venue’s lower and upper levels.

UC Merced is welcoming back its first alumni keynote speaker, Shavone Charles, to address December 2017 graduates at its first Fall Commencement ceremony on Dec. 16.

Traditional UC Merced events — Homecoming, Preview Day and Family Weekend, plus the Chancellor’s Scholars recognition ceremony — came together for a first-of-its-kind bundle of activities that highlighted the campus for current and prospective students, alumni, family members and friends, and the community. Events included a women’s volleyball game, information sessions, women’s and men’s soccer games, a tailgate party and karaoke.

UC Merced’s Homecoming Oct. 20-22 will draw students, staff, faculty, alumni, family and friends together for a weekend of activities that highlight the campus and the community.

The Merced 2020 Project earned two more awards this week, claiming the top prize for Best Social Infrastructure Project at the P3 Awards in Washington, D.C.

The University of California, Merced, received the largest incoming class of students in its 13-year history this semester, as total enrollment neared 8,000 for the first time.

The fastest-growing university in the nation, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, UC Merced now enrolls 7,375 undergraduate and 592 graduate students for a total of 7,967 students — an 8.6 percent increase from 7,336 in 2016, as reported in the university’s fall census.

The decision to end DACA is a cruel bait-and-switch for the many young adults who are living, learning, and working here under its protections. Congress must now step up and pass legislation that will allow Dreamers to remain in this country to pursue the opportunities they have earned.

UC Merced ranks among the top 10 universities in the nation for the success of its first-generation and underrepresented students, according to Washington Monthly’s 2017 College Rankings.

The university received high marks in areas related to social mobility, placing No. 3 in the nation for graduating Pell Grant recipients at higher-than-predicted rates. It’s also No. 10 in the nation by the same measure for first-generation students, which account for 71 percent of the campus’s total enrollment.