Outreach

There’s no offseason for giving back, and that’s exactly how the UC Merced men’s and women’s soccer teams felt as they recently reached out to help the local community.

A new $103,000 gift from the Mitsubishi Corporation Foundation for the Americas will increase opportunities for students at the University of California, Merced, and community members in the region to learn about and explore the ecosystems around them.

Through the gift, one informal UC Merced course and two University of California Extension California Naturalist classes can expand their spring and fall offerings in the Central Valley and Yosemite National Park.

Professor Kara E. McCloskey will speak this week about cardiovascular stem cell engineering as part of the Modesto Area Partners in Science (MAPS) lecture series. The free talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan.

The University of California, Merced, has worked closely with community partners at the local, regional and state levels since before the campus opened in 2005, and that collaboration has contributed much to the university’s success in education and innovation.

As part of the University of California Global Food Initiative, 54 students — including six from UC Merced—have been awarded fellowships to fund projects that will address issues ranging from community gardens and food pantries to urban agriculture and food waste.

The Hmong Student Association will host its eighth annual educational conference for high school students on Nov. 15.

In an effort to combat the increasing rates of obesity among Latino residents, the University of California, Merced and the Merced County Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program will join forces.

Funded by a three-year, $90,000 grant from National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the campus and nonprofit will look at efforts in other areas that have scientifically proven successful in reducing obesity, particularly in young children.

UC Merced’s Small Business Development Center Regional Network is the only entity in the state, and only one of 22 in the nation, to win a Federal and State Technology (FAST) grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Eleventh and 12^th graders and their parents filled the gymnasium bleachers at McLane High School in Fresno on Thursday (Oct. 9) eager to find out what it takes — academically and financially — to access higher education.