Diversity & Inclusion

Giving Tuesday at UC Merced: Collective Generosity Transforms Lives

December 1, 2025

Every gift during the Give to UC Merced 2025 campaign supports students on their educational journeys.

When UC Merced launches Give to UC Merced 2025 on Dec. 2, it won’t just be about one day of giving; the month-long campaign will be about hope, opportunity and community impact. For the 12th year, the campus joins the global Giving Tuesday movement, inviting donors to power change through...

The grant will help the campus offer workshops focused on such topics as teaching challenges and best practices for advancing research and will provide networking opportunities with supportive senior faculty and administrators.

Andrew W. Mellon Grant Helps Campus Expand Diversity in the Humanities Faculty

A new grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will help UC Merced further diversify its community of graduate students and faculty, beginning with the humanities and humanistic social sciences...

Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow Colleen Cheverko's research focuses on the interactions between growth disruptions due to experiences during childhood and subsequent mortality risk as adults.

Campus Awards Chancellor’s Postdoc Fellowships

Two of UC Merced’s newest postdoctoral researchers, Colleen Cheverko and Maria-Elena Young, received the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (CPFP) for 2018-2019. The fellowships,...

Donna Riley of Purdue University addresses a packed house at UC Merced, where she discussed the root causes of inequality in STEM.

Could UC Merced Lead the Change Toward More Inclusivity in STEM?

UC Merced is uniquely positioned to be a change agent in how the academy addresses diversity in STEM, said Professor Donna Riley, the Kamyar Haghighi Head of Purdue’s School of Engineering...

News and Notes: Campus Hosts Writing Conference, Citizen Police Academy; Blood Drive

Equity, diversity and inclusion is the theme of the eighth annual UC Writing Program Conference at UC Merced on Nov. 2 and 3. English Professor Juan Guerra, chair of the University of Washington...

Donna Riley, the Kamyar Haghighi Head of Purdue University’s School of Engineering Education

Lecture Will Examine How to Increase Equity, Inclusion in STEM

Despite efforts to increase diversity among science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines, inclusion continues to be a struggle, said Donna Riley, professor of engineering education at...

Two students in white lab coats work in a chemistry lab.

$1.5M Grant Will Transform Chemistry Curriculum, Improve Access to STEM Careers

It’s a startling statistic: Nearly 30 percent of UC Merced students who start their college careers in the School of Natural Sciences (SNS) switch to majors outside the science, technology,...

Guatemalan Nobelist Announced as This Year’s Spendlove Prize Recipient

Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum, recognized for her work in social and ethno-cultural reform, has been selected to receive the 2018 Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice...

Graduating students listen to a speaker during commencement.

Graduation Events Honor UC Merced's Rich Diversity

Commencement is one of the biggest events – if not the biggest – in a student’s academic career. It’s a time-honored tradition that recognizes students’ scholarly...

Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky speaking with students.

Berkeley Law Dean Speaks Up for Free Speech

People on college campuses hold a wide range of views, and the First Amendment gives everyone the right to express their opinions. But restricting speech at a public institution — even when...

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