Politics & Society

Student Production of ’26 Pebbles’ Encircles Tragedy with Healing and Hope

April 29, 2024

It is impossible to avoid — the real-life event that frames the play “26 Pebbles” is disturbing. Heartbreaking. Which makes all the more remarkable the play’s uplifting message of human resilience and the ability to come together after an unspeakable tragedy — the...

Professor Tracey Osborne Taking on Complex, Grand Challenges in Climate and Social Justice

The world is a complex place, and humanity faces major challenges. Climate change mitigation might be the most difficult, in large part because of the interdependency of living things and their...

Low-Wage Work Is Linked to Spread of COVID-19, Study Finds

California counties with high numbers of low-wage workers are seeing higher incidence of COVID-19, suggesting a link between so-called “worker distress” and spread of the virus, according...

More than $9M in Research Grants to Address California’s Critical Issues

The University of California Office of the President announced its biennial Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) grants, funding 16 collaborative projects encompassing issues...

Drawing Graphic Lessons: Comics Teach, Evaluate Difficult Concepts

Though illustrations have been used to convey ideas and information since before language existed, after Benjamin Franklin published the world’s first editorial cartoon in 1754, comics emerged...

Campus’ Second Fulbright Student Scholar Prepares for a Homecoming

Violet Barton remembers her teenage years doing quadratic equations by candlelight to a soundtrack of bombs and bullets as the Salvadoran Civil War raged around her. She was forced to migrate to...

Prestigious University Press Signs Professor as Book Series Editor

Interdisciplinary Humanities Professor Arturo Arias was recently selected to edit a series of indigenous-studies books for the State University of New York (SUNY) Press. That makes him the first...

Professor’s Fellowship Allows Renewed Focus on Sociology of Race in South Africa

Professor Whitney Pirtle recently became the first researcher to win the prestigious Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship while employed at UC Merced — a grant that will help her finish...

Berkeley Law Dean to Visit Campus for Talk on Free Speech

When does freedom of speech cross the line and become hate speech? What’s considered protected speech? And, how do universities strike the delicate balance between allowing individuals or...

Sociology Faculty, Students Gaining National Recognition

With race, immigration, rising inequality, gender discrimination and collective mobilization grabbing current headlines, the work of the UC Merced sociology unit — always relevant locally...

Research