The University of California, Merced, is nearing the completion of an unprecedented campus expansion project and raising its reputation across the nation and the world, all during a time in which the COVID-19 pandemic has upended nearly every aspect of people’s daily lives and created much uncertainty about the near future.
And today, the university welcomes a new leader.
UC Merced’s reputation as a world-class research university continues to grow, as the university rose to No. 3 among U.S. universities in the 2020 Times Higher Education Young University Rankings released this week.
Juan Sánchez Muñoz won’t begin his tenure as UC Merced’s fourth chancellor until July 1, but leaders in the University of California and across campus are already expressing excitement and optimism about his selection.
It’s before dawn on a Saturday morning in mid-May — not a time anyone would expect the UC Merced campus to be busy. But it is.
This is Spring Commencement, and there is much work to do.
Parking and transportation staff are placing signage and temporary fencing. In the kitchens, dozens of dining and catering workers are preparing breakfast for thousands of people, including the police officers and transportation employees who will spend the morning guiding traffic, answering questions and maintaining order.
A new effort is underway to lay the groundwork for the next major development at UC Merced — a fourth school, this one with the Gallo family name on it.
The planning initiative is a faculty-led effort to create a new, transdisciplinary school that draws upon the expertise of scientists, researchers and practitioners from broad backgrounds to instill the next generations of leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to understand, design and manage complex systems.
The next lecture in the Chancellor’s Dialogue on Diversity and Interdisciplinarity series will be from Beth Mitchneck, Vice Provost for Faculty Success at UMass Lowell. The dialogue is designed to bring notable scholars to campus to present current issues within higher education. On Monday, March 11, Mitchneck will present “Institutional Change for Equality: A Recipe for Change.”
