The inner machinery of democracy in California – from bills and lobbying to courts and elections – is revealed in a professional certification program launched at the University of California, Merced.

em·pa·thy (noun): the ability to recognize, understand and share the thoughts, emotions and perspectives of another person.

It is a means of connection, a path to understanding. Can you see where I’m coming from? Walk a mile in my shoes.

Black History Month often honors familiar names, leaders whose courage and determination changed the course of a nation. But many others have made groundbreaking contributions that exposed injustice, advanced civil rights, reshaped American culture and revolutionized technology. Their achievements and efforts were met with threats, ignorance and suppression. Some had soaring potential cut short by mortal illness.

Written words can do more than communicate. They can also unlock the writer’s ability to process distress, identify hurtful feelings and take control of personal conflict.

Three Merced painters, united in friendship and in their steadfast determination not to compromise their creative values, are serving as UC Merced’s first locally based artists-in-residence.

The brushes of Ruben Aguilera Sanchez, Frank Ayala and Abel Corchado create surreal scenes of fieldhands and crops coalescing in blues and reds, of a rural street splashed in watercolor, of shark fins cutting through a beach as a sandcastle rises from the surf.

UC Merced continues to demonstrate its growing influence on the global stage.

Several faculty members landed on Clarivate’s 2025 list of the world’s most‑cited researchers. The honor is reserved for the top 1% of scholars whose work has shaped their fields over the last 10 years. Clarivate, which produces journal impact factors and other analytics, says the award identifies the world’s most influential researchers.

Should a scientist who sees signs of global catastrophe sound an early alarm or wait until more conclusive evidence is in? Does going public lead to swifter action or give naysayers more time to discredit the message?

 A beaming Jesus Cevon-Gonzalez stood on Merced’s Main Street, surrounded by his mom and dad, grandparents, sister and other loved ones. He clutched the proof of a freshly bestowed bachelor’s degree in computer science.

“I’m just trying to make my parents proud,” the Merced native said.

More than a dozen undergraduate students in UC Merced’s Sociology Club were immersed in the discipline’s breadth of research and professional possibilities during the California Sociological Association’s annual conference.

When UC Merced launches Give to UC Merced 2025 on Dec. 2, it won’t just be about one day of giving; the month-long campaign will be about hope, opportunity and community impact.

For the 12th year, the campus joins the global Giving Tuesday movement, inviting donors to power change through the university’s UC Merced Fund. Contributions to Give to UC Merced will support the campus’s greatest needs, ensuring UC Merced has the flexibility to fund emerging opportunities, expand programs and student support initiatives, and assist promising scholars with direct financial assistance.