Humanities

Empathy is the Central Theme of Todo Cambia Film Festival

February 25, 2026

Brightly colored photo of Assyrian women from Miram Ohan multimedia project

em·pa·thy (noun): the ability to recognize, understand and share the thoughts, emotions and perspectives of another person. It is a means of connection, a path to understanding. Can you see where I’m coming from? Walk a mile in my shoes. Empathy is the keyword for the 2026...

Long-Standing Series Introduces Local Kids to Opera

Thousands of Merced County schoolchildren will be introduced to the wonders of opera this month during the latest entry in the long-running Children’s Opera series at UC Merced. Co-produced by UC...

Bodie Digital Preservation Project Earns CITRIS Grant

UC Merced Professor Nicola Lercari is leading an effort to preserve, through 3-D renderings, the deteriorating ghost town of Bodie. Thanks to $60,000 in seed funding from the Center for Information...

Ancient Textile Discovery Suggests More Southern Route for Silk Road

Cloth remains found in the Samdzong tomb complex in Nepal by UC Merced Professor Mark Aldenderfer suggest the village might have been part of the long-distance trade network of the Silk Road. Textile...

New Lecture Series Draws Distinguished Maya Scholars

UC Merced Professor Arturo Arias, recently named one of the campus’s first John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Chairs, has established a new lecture series to further critical race issues and ethnic...

Dean Earns NEH Support for Book on Madrid Attacks

Jill Robbins, dean of the UC Merced School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, has received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support the completion of her...

Two Professors Named Campus’s First MacArthur Chairs

Two UC Merced faculty members with distinguished, international research careers recently became the campus’s first John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Chairs. Professor Mark Aldenderfer...

Harvard Professor to Speak on How Culture Changes the World

Harvard University Professor Doris Sommer will present UC Merced’s fourth annual Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities at noon Feb. 22 in the California Room on campus. Sommer’s talk, “The Work of...

New Dean Inspired by Campus’s Innovative Spirit

With two decades of experience at prominent American research universities, Jill Robbins has a good feel for what works and what doesn’t in academia. That’s partly because change comes so slowly to...

Human Rights Film Series Marks 10th Anniversary

The UC Merced Human Rights Film Series celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, with a series dedicated to the memory of Denard Davis, a Merced community advocate, educator, mentor and civil rights...