Campus

New School of Engineering Dean Mark Matsumoto is not new to UC Merced. In fact, he’s not even new as the engineering dean, having served in the interim between founding Dean Jeff Wright and Dean Daniel Hirleman.

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.

College can be intimidating — new classes, new people, new responsibilities, and that’s before you even get to the coursework itself. For some, the transition can be difficult.

UC Merced’s Peer Assisted Learning Support (PALS) makes it a little easier for students who might feel intimidated approaching professors about their struggles in a given course. The learning sessions match trained student tutors with other students, and they cover many subjects. 

Ten years ago, the University of California, Merced, opened its doors with 875 students, a handful of permanent buildings and high hopes for the first new UC campus in 40 years — and the first ever in the San Joaquin Valley.

Today, UC Merced enters its second decade of operation with a new high in student enrollment, a $1 billion expansion proposal in advanced stages of development, and a freshly minted strategic plan that promises to accelerate the university’s quest for academic and research distinction.

A new grant from the U.S. Department of Education will help the University of California, Merced, establish important support services for first-generation and low-income students who have yet to declare a major.

The grant, totaling $1.09 million over five years, will launch the Strengthening Talents and Exploring Pathways (STEP) program. STEP will be part of the Calvin E. Bright Success Center’s existing Fiat Lux program, which serves underrepresented students at UC Merced.

Undergraduate student Andrew

As a high school student in Merce