Sustainability

Professor and Environmental Champion Bales Retires, But Research and Advocacy Continue

November 10, 2025

Professors Roger Bales and Martha Conklin arrived in Merced in 2003, the first non-administrative faculty members at UC Merced. They came with a vision: to create a research university that would serve California’s future. Now, after more than 22 years of building institutions, mentoring...

Campus to Tackle Food Waste with CalRecycle Grant

UC Merced is one of the first recipients of the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery’s new Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant. As part of the state’s...

UC Merced reveals its new, comprehensive Sustainability Strategic Plan to further advance it goals, including reaching its Triple Zero Commitment.

Campus Launches New Framework for Sustainable Practices

UC Merced has a new Sustainability Strategic Plan to help the campus further advance its sustainability goals. In 2016, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS), and the...

Chancellor Dorothy Leland with a panel of speakers

Chancellor Touts Sustainability Efforts at Climate Leadership Summit

Chancellor Dorothy Leland joined fellow higher education leaders this week to discuss new climate action at the Second Nature 2018 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit in Tempe, Ariz. On...

Students to Host ‘Sustainability Week’ Events

The Associated Students of UC Merced (ASUCM) Sustainability Council will host UC Merced Sustainability Week Oct. 23-27, during national Campus Sustainability Month. An entire week of events will...

Potential California-New York Partnership Highlights UC Solar Symposium

UC Merced Professor Roland Winston will announce a proposed solar research partnership between the states of California and New York at the 2017 UC Solar Research Symposium, to be held Oct. 13 at the...

‘Energize Colleges’ Sustainability Internships Available

UC Merced’s sustainability office is seeking undergraduate students who are thinking about careers in energy to fill this fall’s Energize Colleges internships. UC Merced is one of...

Students are a major part of UC Merced's success in sustainability.

Princeton Review Lists UC Merced Among Top Green Colleges

UC Merced is among the nation’s top schools for sustainability for the third straight year, according to the Princeton Review’s Guide to 375 Green Colleges, and achieved its highest score...

Andrew De Los Santos works in the recycling and composting center to help UC Merced attain Triple Net Zero.

New Initiative Helps Students Explore Green Careers

When Chigoziri Ibechem attended her first planning commission meeting in downtown Merced last November, she had no idea where it might lead. After the meeting, the psychology major from Los Angeles...

New Academic Year Brings New Faces, Opportunities

More than 2,200 students — many entering their first year at UC Merced — arrived last weekend in cars, trucks and minivans packed to the gills with living essentials from clothing and...