School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts

Conference of California Sociologists Engages UC Merced Undergrads

December 3, 2025

More than a dozen undergraduate students in UC Merced’s Sociology Club were immersed in the discipline’s breadth of research and professional possibilities during the California Sociological Association’s annual conference. The two-day gathering, held in Berkeley in early...

Sociologist Awarded for Book on Inequality in Higher Education

The American Sociological Association (ASA) has honored Professor Laura Hamilton and her co-author with its Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award for their 2013 book, “Paying for the Party: How...

Campus Forges Partnership with Kathmandu University

The University of California, Merced, entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kathmandu University during a ceremony in Nepal on Thursday, Feb. 26, laying the foundation for future...

Gift Establishes UC Merced Presidential Chair in the Humanities

The University of California, Merced, will soon benefit from increased leadership in the humanities, thanks to an anonymous $500,000 donation and a $500,000 match from the UC Office of the President...

Humanities Center to Host Visiting Lecturers

The next week will be a busy one for the Center for the Humanities at UC Merced. David Palumbo-Liu, the Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University, will be on...

Political Scientist Studies Who Tortures Whom, and Why

What makes a government decide to use torture in its interrogations? How do those decisions differ when terrorism is suspected? Once torture starts, how can it be stopped? These questions are at...

Aldenderfer to Speak at Prestigious Indian Event

Mark Aldenderfer, dean of the UC Merced School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, will speak this weekend as a guest lecturer at Kshitij, the annual “techno-management fest” of the Indian...

Students' Spanish Skills Aid Valley Crisis Center

In the fall semester, UC Merced Senior Lecturer Virginia Adán-Lifante offered extra credit to students who volunteered to translate a portion of the Valley Crisis Center website into Spanish. The...

Sociologist’s Influence in Higher Ed Debate Grows

UC Merced sociologist Laura Hamilton has gained national attention since the 2013 release of the book she coauthored, “Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality.” The book, which...

Undergrad Embodies UC Merced’s Entrepreneurial Spirit

“Start something new” could be the unofficial motto of UC Merced. Even in our 10th academic year, many opportunities for innovation still exist on campus. Armando Lomeli, a senior from Los Banos,...