Writing

How Writing Rewires Your Brain to Face Everyday Challenges

February 11, 2026

AI-rendered of hand emerging from a box, holding a pen pressed against paper

Written words can do more than communicate. They can also unlock the writer’s ability to process distress, identify hurtful feelings and take control of personal conflict. Emily Johnston, a writing studies professor at UC Merced, has researched how the act of writing rewires the brain to...

Fellowship Will Allow Professor to Continue Telling Impactful Stories

Professor of Literatures, Languages and Cultures Mai-Linh K. Hong has been awarded a 2023 ACLS Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. The ACLS Fellowship Program...

GAMWS Hosting Spring Events in April and May

Just in time for spring, the Department of Global Arts, Media and Writing Studies (GAMWS) is sponsoring several events over the next few weeks. The fourth annual GASP Faculty Concert ...

Student Cathryn Flores poses in front of a University of California, Merced sign.

From Shakespeare to Music Awards Shows: UC Merced Undergrad Hits the Right Notes

This time around, what happened in Las Vegas will not stay there — at least for Cathryn Flores. The fourth-year undergraduate, who's working on a major in English and minor in writing,...

National Writing Project Kicks Off Under New Leadership

It’s a new school year, which also happens to be a new chapter of the UC Merced Writing Project. The UC Merced Writing Project is a local affiliation of the National Writing Project, which...

Yu-Han Chao, a former UC Merced faculty member, will be reading an excerpt from her new book, a collection of short stories, at the university's Write! Look! Listen! series.

Former Faculty Member to Read from New Book at UC Merced Author Series

UC Merced is a research institution and while groundbreaking work is done in its labs, that doesn’t mean the arts aren’t thriving, too. For the past 10 years, the Write! Look! Listen!...

Feeling a Little Puckish? Get Thee to Yosemite for ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Desperate lovers, a fairy king and queen, a woman with a donkey’s head and a scamp with Cupid’s arrow in flower form are taking over Yosemite National Park on Earth Day weekend....

Lecturer Honored for New Book on Pedagogy

Lecturer Iris D. Ruiz, Ph.D., won Honorable Mention in the 2018 Outstanding Book Awards given by the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s (CCCC). Ruiz’s award is in...

‘Vernal Pool’ Journal Showcases Students’ Creativity

UC Merced’s Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve has become a hallmark of the campus — acres of preserved lands that contribute to the university’s mission of environmental...

New Book Focuses on Teaching Writing to Minorities

Teaching writing is both a science and art. As the field of education moves more toward inclusiveness and embracing diversity, however, the art and science of writing — and how to teach it — becomes...