Global Arts, Media & Writing Studies

Film Documents the Struggle of Growing Old Behind Bars

April 14, 2025

A UC Merced professor entered the bleak world of a fading, 64-year-old man in a Virginia state prison to illustrate the challenges of being elderly and incarcerated. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” is a half-hour documentary by media and performance studies Professor Yehuda Sharim....

Huntington garden and two UC Merced professors

UC Merced Doubles Down on Huntington Distinguished Fellowships

The Huntington Library in San Marino is one of the world’s greatest sources for independent research in the humanities, with documents and artifacts that span 11 centuries. Scholars from more...

Todo Cambia Festival Takes New Artistic Directions

Todo Cambia, UC Merced’s annual Human Rights Film Festival, is about more than film this year. The seven-day festival kicks off Saturday, March 1 with a talk and readings by a former...

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

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...

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,...

UpstART Concert Season Promises Eclectic Mix of Music

Every year, UC Merced’s UpstART music series ignites the senses by bringing far-ranging genres to the stages. In 2024-25, take a seat for acts ranging from revolutionary mariachi and hip...

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:...