School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts

Writer-in-Residence Mark Arax Chronicles California's Lifeblood: Water

September 18, 2025

UC Merced has debuted a writer-in-residence program with one of California’s premier chroniclers of its history, especially the titanic power plays for land and water that have shaped the state’s growth and loom over its future. Mark Arax, a Fresno native, author and former Los...

Mayan Creation Myth the Focus of Upcoming Events

The Popol Vuh, the ancient Mayan creation myth, has permeated several classes at UC Merced this year, offering undergraduate students several ways to learn more about Mayan culture. The focus on the...

Graduate Student’s Research Examines Cognitive Benefits of Bilingualism

Born in Nebraska to a Persian mother and a father whose military duty took the family to Europe for much of her childhood, Kandice Soraya Grote grew up speaking English, German and Farsi. Upon...

National Geographic Film Chronicles Highland Research

Watch Full Episode on PBS. See more from Cave People of the Himalaya. Mark Aldenderfer, dean of UC Merced’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, is featured in a National Geographic...

UC Research Resource Center to Serve San Joaquin Valley

An innovative community-university partnership to empower San Joaquin Valley residents to analyze and communicate their most pressing challenges launches in Fresno this month. The Participatory...

Poli Sci Graduate Discipline to Debut in Fall

Graduate students interested in studying at UC Merced will have one more discipline to pursue this fall. The political science group will launch its doctoral degree track within the Social and...

Students Benefit from Professor's Costume Design Expertise

Dunya Ramicova's costume designs have enchanted audiences for decades, but some of her biggest fans now sit in UC Merced classrooms. Ramicova, the university's first arts professor and one of its...

Campus' Ties with Community Continue to Increase

The bond between the San Joaquin Valley and the University of California, Merced, continues to strengthen. This past year, UC Merced's ongoing research endeavors produced new knowledge...

Ancient Chinese Government Lends Perspective to Modern Challenges

Government, for better or worse, hasn't changed all that much in two millennia. China's government 2,000 years ago confronted the same kinds of problems as their modern counterparts — making...

Campus Teach-In to Discuss Occupy Movement

As the Occupy social movement sweeps across the nation, UC Merced students, faculty and staff have planned a teach-in on campus from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7 in an effort to assist the...