University of California, Merced

The University of California, Merced (also referred to as UC Merced or UCM), is the tenth and newest of the University of California campuses. Located in the San Joaquin Valley in unincorporated Merced County, California, near Merced, UC Merced was the first American research university to be built in the 21st century.The University is also a census-designated place (CDP),that was uninhabited at the 2010 census.

History
As the San Joaquin Valley was the state's largest and most populous region without a UC campus, on May 19, 1988, the Regents of the University of California voted to begin planning for a campus in the region, in response to increasing enrollment and growth constraints at existing UC campuses.On May 19, 1995, the Regents selected the Merced site, mid-way between Fresno and Modesto, as the location for the University of California's tenth campus. The campus groundbreaking ceremony was held October 25, 2002, and the first day of class was September 6, 2005.

On May 16, 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama gave the commencement address for the university's first full graduating class.

In 2010 the United States Census Bureau made UC Merced its own separate census-designated place.Unlike the other campuses in the UC system, UC Merced was built in a rural, unincorporated area outside the boundaries of the City of Merced or any other existing city or community. Mail to the campus, however, is addressed "Merced, CA".

In fall 2010 the new student housing facilities, The Summits, opened to provide two new residential halls for incoming students. The two, four-story buildings, Tenaya Hall and Cathedral Hall, are reserved primarily for incoming freshmen students

Organization and governance
UC Merced is headed by a chancellor. After a nation-wide search, on May 24, 2011, the Regents of the University of California named Dorothy Leland, President of Georgia College & State University, to be the university's newest chancellor. Sung-Mo (Steve) Kang, Dean of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Baskin School of Engineering held the position immediately prior, from 2006 to 2011, and stepped down so he could return to research and teaching. Carol Tomlinson-Keasey held the position from 1999 until she resigned on August 31, 2006. She returned to teaching and research in psychology in 2007 and later died of breast cancer in 2009.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 Kang took office in early March 2007.

Although UC Merced is located in a rural area associated with agriculture, it emphasizes cutting edge interdisciplinary research grounded in natural science, math, engineering and social sciences. 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 basis rather than the quarter system for its academic term. The Berkeley campus is the only other UC campus on a semester system.

Academics
The Science and Engineering Building.

UC Merced has 3 schools offering 19 undergraduate majors and 22 minors:

• School of Engineering
• School of Natural Sciences
• School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts

The site for the Science and Engineering Building 2 was recently dedicated.

For graduate-level study, UC Merced Graduate Division offers programs in 11 emphases: applied mathematics, biological engineering and small-scale technologies, cognitive and information sciences, electrical engineering and computer science, environmental systems, mechanical engineering and applied mechanics, physics and chemistry, psychology, quantitative and systems biology, social and cognitive sciences, and world cultures.[18] The various programs within the Graduate Division have produced PhDs and Masters-level graduates. Some have found work in faculty positions at different colleges and universities, while others have chosen to enter government service.

In 2011, the campus was granted accreditation by WASC.

University of California, Merced Degree Programs :

Medicine

Health Sciences

Video Presentation

University of California, Merced

UC Merced is the 10th campus in the University of California system and the first American research university of the 21st century. Interdisciplinary innovation, diversity, sustainability and personal interactions are the hallmarks of the UC Merced experience.