Literatures and Cultures

Into the Woods: Nature Works its Magic in Shakespeare in Yosemite

April 15, 2025

As Yosemite Likes It UC Merced performers

If Arden, the sprawling, wild forest in William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” were in the United States instead of the Bard’s imagination, it would certainly be a national park. Like Yosemite. That is why this light comedy is an ideal fit for the annual UC Merced...

Feeling a Little Puckish? Get Thee to Yosemite for ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Desperate lovers, a fairy king and queen, a woman with a donkey’s head and a scamp with Cupid’s arrow in flower form are taking over Yosemite National Park on Earth Day weekend....

A man in glasses stands in front of a monitor displaying desert scenes.

LibraryCAVE Brings Virtual Reality and Big Data Into the Classroom

Professor Nicola Lercari is leading his students on a tour of Palenque, the ancient Mesoamerican city that flourished at the peak of Maya civilization. They’re exploring the altar atop the...

Shavone Charles' interest in technology started during a summer internship with Google, where she served as a student ambassador liaison between the technology company and UC Merced students.

Alumna Shavone Charles Continues to Blaze a Path in Music and Tech

It’s been five years since Shavone Charles walked across the stage at commencement. On Saturday (Dec. 16), she will return as UC Merced’s first alumni keynote speaker at Fall Commencement...

Alumna Shavone Charles heads global music and youth culture communications at Instagram.

Shavone Charles is First Alum Chosen for Commencement Keynote

UC Merced is welcoming back its first alumni keynote speaker, Shavone Charles, to address December 2017 graduates at its first Fall Commencement ceremony on Dec. 16. Charles received her bachelor...

New Center, Conference Focus on Mesoamerican Studies

Topics ranging from ethnobotany, public health and feminism to agriculture, urban growth and social movements are among the highlights of the Mesoamerican Studies Center’s upcoming conference...

Professor’s Book Examines Gender Roles in Merry Olde England

Examining the power of gender seems like a topic built for today. But UC Merced history Professor Susan Dwyer Amussen’s new book, “Gender, Culture and Politics in England, 1560-1640:...

UC Merced Library Chosen to Digitize AIDS Historical Archives

The UC Merced Library’s digital assets team is playing an important role in providing access to a swath of modern history that will contribute to research and society. The team has been asked to...

Shakespeare, Muir Come Alive in Yosemite for Earth Day

The works of Shakespeare, perhaps more so than any in the western canon, have been subject to reinterpretation and reappraisal by generations of artists, scholars and laypeople. Some, like Verdi’s...

UC Merced, National Park Service to Present Shakespeare in Yosemite

In partnership with the National Park Service and the University of Warwick (U.K.), the University of California, Merced, will produce “Shakespeare in Yosemite,” featuring local and student actors...