New Book Chronicles the Creation and Impact of UC Merced

In “The Miracle of Merced,” author James H. Erickson chronicles the volunteers, educators and community leaders who helped transform a patch of land into the nation’s first research university of the 21st century.

The book tells the story of the people who refused to let go of the vision: bringing a world-renowned University of California campus to Merced.

“I was inspired to write ‘The Miracle of Merced’ by the incredible volunteer team … who made the campus a reality,” he said. “The campus would not exist today without the vision, the tenacity and the courage of Fresno attorney Leo Kolligian, who persuaded his friend Gov. George Deukmejian to support a new campus, and Bob Carpenter, who was able to rally an entire community around the single goal of building a new premier university in Merced.”

The 105-page book published earlier this year preserves the campus’s founding and celebrates the community partnerships that made it happen and draws on firsthand experiences of community members including Carpenter who helped lead the effort to site the campus in Merced.

Erickson was appointed vice chancellor for advancement on July 1, 1999, the same day the UC Board of Regents named Carol Tomlinson-Keasey chancellor. As Tomlinson-Keasey’s first vice chancellor appointment, he led efforts to build the campus’s Foundation Board of Trustees and helped establish its first 14 endowed chairs. He retired at the end of 2004.

In the book, Erickson looks ahead to UC Merced’s future and its anticipated impact by its 50th anniversary. As he makes clear, the story of UC Merced is far from finished; the vision that built the campus continues to fuel what comes next.