School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts

UC Merced Scientists Among Global Elite Shaping AI, Climate and Health

January 26, 2026

UC Merced continues to demonstrate its growing influence on the global stage. Several faculty members landed on Clarivate’s 2025 list of the world’s most‑cited researchers. The honor is reserved for the top 1% of scholars whose work has shaped their fields over the last 10 years....

Professor Emeritus Mark Aldenderfer Honored with Dickson Chair

Esteemed anthropologist and archaeologist Professor Mark Aldenderfer, who retired this month from UC Merced, has been awarded the Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professorship Endowed Chair, the university...

Three Awarded UC Pre-Professoriate Fellowships

UC Merced graduate students Anabel Castillo, Veronica Lerma and Sammy Villa are recipients of the University of California’s inaugural President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship (PPPF)....

Researcher Offers Guide to Coping with COVID-related Stress, Part II

Professor Matthew Zawadzki is with the Department of Psychological Sciences in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. His research examines social psychological processes as applied to...

Researcher Provides Helpful Guide to Coping with Stressful Times, Part I

First Virtual Commencement Honors Class of 2020

The Class of 2020 has officially graduated and while students didn’t cross the stage in typical commencement fashion, the celebration was memorable. In the first virtual commencement for a...

UC Merced Part of CITRIS’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants

UC Merced professors are leading or participating in four technology projects designed to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis. The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (...

UC Merced is commemorating the tremendous accomplishments of its graduates with a virtual ceremony streamed at 10 a.m. May 16.

Virtual Commencement Promises Surprises for Grads, Families

While the COVID-19 pandemic has altered many things this spring on the UC Merced campus — from classes and research to events — UC Merced is making sure the Class of 2020 has a forum to...

Professor’s Documentary Film about Refugee Family Honored at Vienna International Festival

“Songs that Never End,” Professor Yehuda Sharim’s intimate film about a family transitioning from Iran to life in Texas, is a finalist contender in the International Documentary...

This fall, Katie Daniels will start a faculty position in the sociology department at California Polytechnic State University, Pomona.

First-Generation Student Pursues Anti-Racism Research, Joins Cal-Poly Pomona this Fall

Kathryn “Katie” Daniels was a teen when she attended the celebration of the opening of UC Merced. As a child growing up in Merced, Daniels had heard her parents stress the importance of...