UC Merced: A New Era in Californian Higher Education
UC Merced stands as the tenth and newest campus in the University of California (UC) system, a public land-grant research university located in Merced County, California. Established in 2005, UC Merced embodies a commitment to student success, exceptional research, dynamic teaching, and a dedication to diversity. Its establishment was the culmination of decades of planning, political advocacy, and environmental considerations, designed to address the growing demand for higher education in the San Joaquin Valley.
The Genesis of UC Merced
The story of UC Merced begins in the early 1980s when the Regents of the University of California recognized the need for a new campus in the San Joaquin Valley. This region, despite being the most densely populated in the state, lacked a UC presence. The decision to establish a campus was further driven by increasing enrollment pressures, known as "Tidal Wave II," as the children of baby boomers began to seek college education. On May 19, 1988, the UC Regents formally approved the plan to establish a new campus in the region.
Site Selection and Planning
Following the decision to build a new campus, a comprehensive site selection process was initiated. Expert consultant teams, including biologists, engineers, economists, and academic planners, were assembled to analyze eight potential sites. These teams conducted extensive studies, considering factors such as environmental impact, economic feasibility, and community needs. Public forums were held in cities like Bakersfield, Fresno, and Modesto to gather input from community leaders, local residents, and elected officials, ensuring that the campus would positively impact the region.
Addressing Environmental Concerns
After the University of California completed its site selection process, officials at the state, regional, and local levels launched efforts to craft comprehensive planning and conservation strategies necessary to address the various development challenges associated with the UC Merced project. In October 1996, the County of Merced revised its General Plan, formally designating a Specific Urban Development Plan (SUDP) area and outlining a series of long term public planning goals intended to shape development over the coming decades. Among the priorities set forth in this plan were commitments to protecting farmland, conserving natural wetland and other environmental resources, promoting sustainable growth, and ensuring that the UC Merced campus would be constructed in a timely and environmentally conscious manner.
In February 1998, a formal partnership was established between the University of California, Merced County, the City of Merced, the Virginia Smith Trust, and the Merced Irrigation District. This collaborative team initiated the Concept Planning Phase for the envisioned University Community. As part of this initiative, Merced County adopted a “Guidance Package,” which aimed to establish a framework for evaluating and managing university related development to ensure that it remained consistent with the existing General Plan. This planning process culminated with the publication of the University Community Concept Report in May 1999, a foundational document that helped guide future steps. Simultaneously, discussions began between university and county representatives and federal and state permitting agencies to streamline approvals for Section 404 permits and other regulatory clearances.
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Initially, planning efforts focused on the Lake Yosemite area. However, extensive biological surveys conducted in 1999 and 2000 revealed the presence of endangered fairy shrimp, leading to the relocation of the main campus site to the former Merced Hills Golf Course, approximately three miles south of the original location. This shift moved the planned University Community away from sensitive environmental lands and closer to established urban areas, aligning the project with the City of Merced’s existing development patterns. By early 2001, both the university and Merced County had prepared Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) for the revised campus and community plans.
Land Acquisition and Conservation
The passage of Proposition 203 marked a pivotal moment, allowing bond money to be used for constructing new buildings in both the UC and California State University systems. In March 2001, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation pledged over $11 million to help the University of California acquire the 7,030 acres of land held by the Virginia Smith Trust. This agreement led to the creation of a 5,030-acre protected reserve consisting of critical vernal pool ecosystems, while the remaining 2,000 acres were designated for university use. Of that, 750 acres were immediately set aside for inclusion in the UC Natural Reserve System. The university expanded its conservation efforts to approximately 6,428 acres (2,601 ha), leading to the formal establishment of the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve, now part of the University of California Natural Reserve System.
Early Operations and Expansion
UC Merced had opened a small administrative office at Merced College in 1997, and in 1999 constructed a temporary office on the grounds of the decommissioned Castle Airforce Base. In 2001, UC Merced expanded further by opening a satellite center in downtown Bakersfield, California within its University Square area. This site provided outreach and services including college prep courses and counseling for students across Kern County and the broader southern San Joaquin Valley.
In 2010, the new student housing facilities, The Summits, opened to provide two additional residential halls for incoming students. The two four-story buildings, Tenaya Hall and Cathedral Hall, are reserved primarily for incoming freshmen students. Three years later, another housing facility, Half Dome, was built next to the existing Tenaya and Cathedral Halls.
The 2020 Plan and Beyond
In November 2015, the Regents of the University of California approved a $1.14 billion proposal, known as the 2020 Plan, to double the capacity of UC Merced, boosting its enrollment by nearly 4,000 students. UC Merced claims to be the only institution in the United States all of whose buildings have been LEED certified.
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Academic Programs and Research
UC Merced offers 25 majors, 25 minors, and 18 graduate programs taught by more than 450 faculty members, along with visiting professors and lecturers from some of the world's top-ranked universities. Innovative, interdisciplinary research is a cornerstone of UC Merced’s mission. The campus takes advantage of the surrounding environment by investigating issues relating to environmental systems of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada, and of its youth by having programs in genetic research conducted in state-of-the-art research labs. It also benefits from proximity to Silicon Valley and other major universities. Research in fields like language acquisition and cultural issues is facilitated by the highly diverse ethnic makeup of the Central Valley.
UC Merced operates on a semester system rather than the quarter system for its academic term. Exclusive to UC Merced, The San Joaquin Valley (SJV) PRIME+ program, is an academic program that combines four years of undergraduate work with four years of medical school. The program offers students a diverse range of academic majors, also offered to the other students at the university, designed to prepare them for healthcare and medical sciences.
School of Medicine and SJV PRIME Program
UC Merced announced a partnership with UCSF and UCSF Fresno to create a new medical school program by the year 2026, with support from governor Gavin Newsom. The SJV Prime Program which opened its doors in 2011, is part of the upcoming UC Merced School of Medicine. It is specifically focused on preparing and training students to become future doctors who will serve the underserved communities in the Central Valley of California.
R1 Designation
In early February, UC Merced earned R1 status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. With the designation UC Merced became the only R1 university in the Central Valley.
Governance and Leadership
Being one of the ten general campuses of the University of California system, UC Merced is governed by a 26-member Board of Regents consisting of 18 officials appointed by the Governor of California, seven ex officio members, and a single student regent. Carol Tomlinson-Keasey was the first chancellor of the university and held the position from 1999 until she resigned on August 31, 2006. On September 21, 2006, the Regents named Roderic B. Park, a former interim chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, as the acting chancellor for UC Merced. Park remained acting chancellor until Sung-Mo (Steve) Kang, Dean of the Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz, took office in early March 2007. After a nationwide search, on May 24, 2011, the Regents of the University of California named Dorothy Leland, then president of Georgia College & State University, to be the university's newest chancellor.
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Campus Environment and Facilities
The campus is bounded by Lake Yosemite on one side. Two irrigation canals run through the campus. The campus master plan was developed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, its initial infrastructure by Arup, and its first buildings were designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Thomas Hacker and Associates, and EHDD Architecture. Rather than build on 40 acres (16 ha) of protected land east of Lake Yosemite, where endangered fairy shrimp hatch in vernal pools, the school has built on a 230-acre (93 ha) parcel of grazing land south of campus, under a revised layout. The Science and Engineering Building 2 opened in 2014. The library was the first building to open on campus. During the Fall 2005 semester, while construction of other buildings was still underway, all academic courses were conducted in the library. The library contains more electronic holdings than print holdings, consisting of about 70,000 online journals and 3.965 million electronic books (including 3.15 million HathiTrust full-text books), compared to 102,000 print books.
Student Life
UC Merced students have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to help create the student life experience for those who will follow. The UC Merced campus has two main areas that contain residence housing on-campus. They offer Living Learning Communities (LLCs) to all students, bringing those together who have similar interests. Approximately 2,100 students currently live on campus in the Valley and Sierra Terraces and the Summits, which includes Tenaya and Cathedral Halls, 4.2 miles (6.8 km) away from the city of Merced. The most recent addition is Half Dome Hall which completed the UC Merced's first residential square.
Student publications include the newspaper The Prodigy, Bobcat Radio, The Undergraduate Research Journal, The Undergraduate Historical Journal, and literary journals The Kumquat and Imagination Dead Imagine. The university operates its own public transportation system, CatTracks.
Athletics
The UC Merced athletic teams are called the Golden Bobcats. In 2006, the university opened its gymnasium.
Funding and Resources
UC Merced gets funding from a variety of federal, state, and private sources. The university is also home to the CCBM Summer Internship Program, an undergraduate research fellowship for non-UC Merced students sponsored by the NSF CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines.
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
Merced City School District is committed to equal opportunity for all individuals. District programs, activities, and practices shall be free from discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying against any protected group as identified under Education Code 200 and 220 and Government Code 11135, including race, color, ancestry, national origin, ethnic group identification, age, religion, marital or parental status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or genetic information; the perception of one or more of such characteristics; or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics in any District program or activity that receives or benefits from state financial assistance (5 CCR 4610).
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