Arts & Culture

5 Questions for Indigenous Author of Acclaimed Memoir Coming to UC Merced

February 11, 2025

Deborah Taffa, an Indigenous author and educator whose book about growing up in a mixed-race home and struggling with social acceptance was hailed as one the best memoirs of 2024, will make a special visit to Merced this month. Taffa will make two appearances Tuesday, Feb. 18 to read from...

World-spanning Art for Earth Kicks Off UC Merced Arts Spring Season

An exhibition that collects artistic visions from five continents and weaves them into a compelling plea to protect our planet has found the perfect home for the first few months of 2025. At least...

uc merced standup comedy class performers and professor

In UC Merced Standup Comedy Course, Joy is the Punchline

Katherine Cai is on stage, reminiscing about high school. “My dad tried to teach me geometry. You know how that goes. The questions get more and more difficult and Dad gets more and more...

UC Merced Filmmaker Turns Inward for Meditation on Conflict and Loss

Filmmaker and UC Merced Professor Yehuda Sharim recently completed an autobiographical project that is an intimate contemplation of his childhood home in Israel, where visits with his aging father...

3 New Majors Meet at Crossroads of Communication and Science

Information – how it is shaped, delivered and received – is a thread that runs through three dynamic new majors at UC Merced. Communication and media; neuroscience; and science,...

A colorful piece by artist Gronk, depicting a figure standing in front of a wall, is pictured.

UC Merced Curates Sweeping Chicano Art Exhibit at 3 Galleries

A three-site exhibit is celebrating Chicano art in a collaboration between a university and a community - the culmination of a professor's nine years of effort. "Alma, Corazón, y Vida:...

Sharim Film 'Flora' Wins Festival's Social Justice Award

“Flora,” a film by UC Professor Yehuda Sharim, earned an award from the Latino and Native American Film Festival. The film, which Sharim describes as a memoir of post-teen daughters...

One of UC Merced Professor Yehuda Sharim's photos for the "Reparaciones" essay with Professor Lorena Alvarado

Stitches that Endure: With ‘Reparaciones,’ New Visions of Healing

Two UC Merced professors have collaborated on a meditative and innovative exploration of the literal and figurative threads that weave through a Southern California city. “Reparaciones,...

UC Merced Children's Opera "Panic in the Barnyard"

Free Performance Takes Opera Down to the Farm

UC Merced Arts invites everyone to a free performance that serves up whimsy, interactive fun and an inspiring message with a big helping of … operatic singing.  “Panic in the...

Advisor and student of Undergraduate Research Journal

Happy Birthday to Undergrad Journals that Spark Students’ Aspirations

It’s a pair of special birthdays for UC Merced’s two student-run journals for undergraduates. The Vernal Pool , which publishes creative stories, poems and images, turned 10 this...

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