The UC Merced Police Department will host its annual Light Up the Lantern event on Sept. 19 to support the campus’s Police Mentor Program.

In 2006, UC Merced police officers formed a partnership with UC Merced students with the mission of positively impacting the lives of at-risk students in the local community through mentorship and education. The program, which benefits 200 Merced fourth-grade students annually, operates solely on grant and private funding.

The UC Merced Alumni Association and Athletics and Recreation will host the inaugural UC Merced Journey 5K Fund Run on Sept. 5 to celebrate the campus’s 10th anniversary.

Current students, staff and faculty members, alumni and community members are invited to participate. All proceeds from the run will support student scholarships. The goal is to raise $2,500, which will be matched 3-to-1.

UC Merced Professor Manuel M.

The Campus Advocacy, Resources and Education (CARE) Office has moved to a new location in the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library, Room 107. Students and staff and faculty members are invited to an open house from 3 to 5 p.m. on July 10.

Long hours and hard work paid off for UC Merced’s intercollegiate athletics program last week when the California Pacific Conference’s 2014-15 awards were announced. For the first time in conference history, one school earned every departmental award.

UC Merced Director of Recreation and Athletics David Dunham was selected as the Cal Pac Athletic Director of the Year. UC Merced was also named the top institution in the categories of sportsmanship, sports medicine and sports information. 

The winners of this year’s Innovate to Grow competition have been announced.

The event includes three components: The Mobile App Challenge, the Capstone competition for senior Innovation and Design Clinic teams and the Engineering Service Learning competition for undergraduate teams.

Two prizes are given for Capstone teams. The winners receive $1,000 each — up to $5,000 or $6,000 per team, depending on the number of students on the winning teams.  

The winning Engineering Service Learning team shares $3,000, while Mobile App winners share $5,000.

Thousands of area children will attend performances of “Who Stole B-Flat?” on the UC Merced campus this week as part of an effort to expose Merced County youth to opera and theater. 

In addition to the free performances being offered to schools all week, a performance for the community is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, May 23, in the Dr. Lakireddy Auditorium. Suggested donations for the public performance are $5 for adults and $3 for children. 

The 2015 UC Merced Leadership Awards were held this evening (April 30) at the Wallace-Dutra Amphitheater. Presented by the Margo F.

Chemistry Professor Hrant Hratchian is part of a delegation of academics at the Coalition for National Science Funding’s (CNSF) advocacy day in Washington, D.C., today.

Hratchian will show his lab’s research with an exhibit titled, “Better Living Through Computational Chemistry.”