Humanities

There’s nothing small about this year’s Shakespeare in Yosemite production. It boasts the largest cast in the program’s seven-year history and, for the first time, features a full band to deliver the score and propel the musical numbers. The headcount for park staff in the cast is an all-time high.

“The stage will be very crowded for the curtain calls,” director Katie Brokaw said.

The 12^th edition of the Bobcat Art Show, which debuts this week in a new space, is further proof that creativity can come from anywhere in the UC Merced community.

“In addition to the amazing work done by our Global Arts Studies students and faculty, we have some incredible pieces by engineers, finance managers, anthropologists and more – demonstrating how the power of art truly knows no bounds,” said Collin Lewis, the university’s executive director for the arts.

The unflinching demand for justice drives the moving images and impassioned ideas packed into the agenda of this year’s UC Merced Human Rights Film Festival, presented by the university’s Global Arts, Media & Writing Studies department.

Editor's note: In honor of Black History Month, the UC Merced newsroom is highlighting some of the organizations, services and people who serve or represent the Black community on campus.

We all need heroes.

Perhaps that was on Roy Wilkins’ mind as he faced the sea of humanity – 250,000 strong – on a warm August afternoon in 1963. At the podium on the Lincoln Memorial, the executive secretary of the NAACP stood to inspire the throng gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The new issue of Foundry, a digital platform similar to a magazine, assembled by the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI), features works by three members of the UC Merced campus community.

Distinguished rankings, new academic offerings, world-class research and campus expansions were among the highlights of the UC Merced State of the University address delivered by Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz.

"The state of this 20-year-old institution is unparalleled in the history of American higher education," said Muñoz. "And now I would like to invite you to join me in imagining an even more impactful future for our campus, faculty, staff and students."

Compelling storytelling is vital to ensuring the action needed to secure a habitable planet for future generations, according to an increasing amount of research.

UC Merced is recruiting students now to become the next environmental storytellers.

Students who are interested in creatively conveying the urgency of environmental issues can make that mission the focus of their studies when the new environmental humanities (EH) major begins at UC Merced in fall 2024.

The University of California Board of Regents has appointed University of California, Merced graduate student Josiah Beharry to be the 2024-25 student Regent.

Beharry is the 50th student Regent, a position established in 1975. He will serve as the student Regent-designate for the coming year, able to participate in all deliberations, and will have voting privileges when his one-year term as a Regent begins in July 2024. Beharry's appointment carries additional significance, as he is the first student from the UC Merced campus to serve as student Regent.

Global Arts Studies Professor Yehuda Sharim has published a new photo essay, “A Map of Light,” on the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI)’s digital platform Foundry.

New students or those who have not yet chosen their majors will have an array of options before them.

Five new majors and several new emphases, ranging across all three schools, are all coming online in 2024 and are recruiting students now.

New bachelor’s of science degrees:

• chemical engineering
• data science and computing
• public health

New bachelor’s of arts degrees:

• data science and analytics
• environmental humanities

New emphases:

In the mechanical engineering major: