School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts

People Don’t Worry About Losing Jobs to AI, Even When Told It Could Happen Soon

November 18, 2025

Illustration of worker threatened by robot

As debates rage about artificial intelligence's impact on jobs, new research suggests that even warnings that AI could disrupt workers' employment soon do little to shake their confidence. In a survey-based study, political scientists Anil Menon of UC Merced and Baobao Zhang of...

Remapping Global History Through 5,500 Years of Malaria

In a new study, an international team of researchers — including UC Merced Distinguished Professor Emeritus Mark Aldenderfer — reconstructed the evolutionary history and global spread of...

New Dean of SSHA Arriving with the Fall Semester

Professor Leonardo R. Arriola from UC Berkeley has been named dean of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) as of Aug. 1. Vice Chancellor and Provost Betsy Dumont made the...

UC Merced faculty and graduate students collaborate with the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation to record rock art sites in Mariposa County.

Major Gift to Reimagine Humanities Research, Community-engaged Projects

Humanities education has been under fire on college campuses over the past decade. “There’s a lot of concern nationally about graduate education in the humanities. We’re...

Sharim Film 'Flora' Wins Festival's Social Justice Award

“Flora,” a film by UC Professor Yehuda Sharim, earned an award from the Latino and Native American Film Festival. The film, which Sharim describes as a memoir of post-teen daughters...

UC Merced Professor Ma Vang and print of painting that is on the cover of her book "History on the Run"

Untangling Hmong History with UC Merced’s Ma Vang

Exploring sources of historical narratives can take you to places where walls seem to move and truth feels fluid and interchangeable. Ma Vang’s research has focused on how people narrate their...

One of UC Merced Professor Yehuda Sharim's photos for the "Reparaciones" essay with Professor Lorena Alvarado

Stitches that Endure: With ‘Reparaciones,’ New Visions of Healing

Two UC Merced professors have collaborated on a meditative and innovative exploration of the literal and figurative threads that weave through a Southern California city. “Reparaciones,...

UC President Michael Drake signs a white coat to celebrate an important milestone for UC Merced's Medical Education Building.

Following the Mission to Improve Valley Health Care

It was a groundbreaking Tuesday night so there were shovels. Many shovels. Full sized, posterized, miniaturized (in a gift box). All to mark a symbolic turning of earth for UC Merced’s Medical...

Scholar Workshop Studies Genocide from Several Angles

An online workshop this week aims to deconstruct one of humanity’s most destructive traits: genocide. UC Merced’s Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences is bringing together...

UC Merced Children's Opera "Panic in the Barnyard"

Free Performance Takes Opera Down to the Farm

UC Merced Arts invites everyone to a free performance that serves up whimsy, interactive fun and an inspiring message with a big helping of … operatic singing.  “Panic in the...