Registration Open for Fifth Annual UC Merced Summer Session

MERCED, CA. — For the first time, several members of UC Merced's founding faculty will be among the professors providing instruction to students throughout the San Joaquin Valley during the university's fifth annual Summer Session. To be presented at the UC Merced Centers in Fresno and Bakersfield and also at the campus offices in Atwater, many of the 13 scheduled courses will incorporate two-way, live videoconferencing to offer Valley students an opportunity to earn UC credit close to home.

A sampling of the courses and their UC Merced instructors includes:

• Contemporary Biology — Dean Maria Pallavicini and Professor Mike Colvin;
• Chemistry — Professor David F. Kelley;
• Physics: Light, Color and Vision — Professor Anne Myers Kelley;
• The Physics of the Cosmos — Professor Roland Winston and Adjunct Professor Wil van Breugel.

Highly qualified faculty from other UC campus and other local institutions of higher education will teach the remainder of the courses including Calculus, Macro- and Microeconomics, Discoveries and Concepts in Nutrition, Statistics, Introduction to Sociology, General Psychology and Russian History.

Working in partnership with UC Davis, UC Merced is offering two sessions and 11 lower-division courses and one upper-division course for UC Davis credit. One lower-division course will be offered for UC Merced credit.

Summer Session One runs from June 21 through July 30. Summer Session Two will run August 2 through September 10. Final course offerings are dependent on number of enrollments; therefore, students are encouraged to apply early. The registration deadline for Summer Session One is June 11 and July 23 for the second session.

“These summer courses are part of UC Merced's ongoing effort to increase Valley students' access to the University of California and the availability of UC programs in the region as we progress toward the official opening of the main UC Merced campus,” said David Mendoza, Coordinator of Professional Studies/Summer Session. “We are especially excited to offer an opportunity for newly admitted UC students to get their first experience with UC courses and for current UC students to fulfill general education requirements at locations close to their homes.”

UC credit is available for three to five units with fees ranging from $366 to $610 per course for UC students, which may be slightly higher for non-UC students.

In addition to current UC students, incoming high school seniors, recent high school graduates and community college students are encouraged to enroll in the summer courses.

High school students must submit a letter from their school principal or counselor documenting their grade point average and recommending them for college-level study to enroll. Other San Joaquin Valley residents who are at least 18 years old and are prepared for university-level coursework also are welcome to register for the UC Merced Summer Session courses.

Featuring high-caliber faculty throughout, the summer sessions will include some courses taught in the traditional classroom style, while other courses will leverage the latest in technology to maximize student participation via two-way, live videoconferencing and online discussions.