School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts

Depression Due to Politics: the Quiet Danger to Democracy

July 7, 2025

UC Merced Professor Christopher Ojeda and his book "The Sad Citizen"

On laptop screens, televisions and social media feeds across the nation, images and words fueled by a fractured political landscape spout anger, frustration and resentment. Clashing ideologies burst forth in public demonstrations, family gatherings and digital echo chambers. Red-hot rhetoric and...

Cognitive Science Professor’s First Book Released by Princeton University Press

Cognitive science Professor Paul Smaldino has astronomically high hopes for his first book. “I hope literally everyone reads this book,” Smaldino said. “Modeling Social...

Labor, Community-based Groups Key to Addressing Climate Challenge, Study Shows

One of the major challenges of this century is democratically engaging institutions and large numbers of people with strategies to mitigate global warming by minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. A...

Sharim's father's hands, damaged fieldwork.

Film, Poetry, Philosophy the Subjects of Three Foundry Pieces by Humanities Community

The new issue of Foundry, a digital platform similar to a magazine, assembled by the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI), features works by three members of the UC Merced...

Sharim’s Films Honored at More than 80 Festivals Worldwide

Professor Yehuda Sharim 's film entitled “El Ojo Comienza En La Mano,” which he calls a tribute to campesino histories in rural California told through the art of local farm worker...

Martín-Rodríguez Recognized for Eminent Scholarship

Founding faculty member and distinguished literature Professor Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez is being honored for his contributions to Chicano/Latino studies with the Don Luis Leal award, considered...

Anne Zanzucchi leads a discussion of rhetoric in a writing class at UC Merced.

UC Merced Launches First Writing Studies Major Cohort

Writing is still the most important, and most-used, form of communication in the world. "Writing is crucial in that it's both a product and a process. It's in the fabric of what we do...

The annual Shakespeare in Yosemite production is just one avenue for environmental humanities students to get involved.

New Major Trains Students to Tell the Planet’s Urgent Stories

Compelling storytelling is vital to ensuring the action needed to secure a habitable planet for future generations, according to an increasing amount of research. UC Merced is recruiting students...

Zulema Valdez Appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for EJIE

Zulema Valdez has been selected as UC Merced’s associate vice chancellor for Equity, Justice and Inclusive Excellence (EJIE). In making the announcement, Vice Chancellor and Chief Diversity...

An aerial photograph of the UC Merced campus.

NIH Grant to Study Immigration Policy Impacts on Mental Health and Access to Health Care for Latinos in Rural Communities

UC Merced public health Professor Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young has been awarded an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The $3 million grant will fund Young's ambitious...