Jody Murray

He studied in hallowed halls of academia. His highly respected research takes him halfway around the globe into societies both foreign and familiar. In his newest role, he leads the largest school of a research university less than two decades old but soaring in reputation and influence.

Yet if you ask Leo Arriola about his journey, he uses a surprising word.

“I’m accidental in every possible way,” he said. “Professor. Administrator. Statistically, I shouldn’t be in this position.”

UC Merced has received a $750,000 boost to its mission to invest in the San Joaquin Valley’s unique cultural, creative and linguistic wealth by working with the region’s people to strengthen communities and champion social justice.

UC Merced said “welcome” to its 2,400 new students Tuesday as only UC Merced can, with a joyous and colorful Scholars Bridge Crossing ceremony that symbolizes their transformation into Bobcats at the San Joaquin Valley’s only research university.

Hundreds of those first-year or transfer students gathered in yellow T-shirts on the lawn next to the Pavilion dining hall in preparation for the crossing.

A Cornell University professor acclaimed for his study of the evolution, acquisition and processing of language is this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Cognitive Scientist Award presented by UC Merced’s Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences .

First responders from across Merced County converged on UC Merced Thursday for what they said was a highly successful response to a simulated emergency.

Police officers, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and medical personnel assembled at the university’s library to carry out incident duties and protocols. The UC Merced Police Department and Office of Emergency Management led the simulation — a yearly exercise at the university designed to enhance and evaluate the agencies’ collaboration and incident effectiveness.

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2024 semester.

San Joaquin Valley native Anmol Kaur is well on her way to making a splash in the worlds of science and medicine. The Bakersfield resident, coming to UC Merced as a first-year student, parlayed strong experiences in high school into a slot in the second SJV PRIME+ medical education cohort.

Kaur is poised to follow a path taken by her parents, who both have careers in medicine.

A study of fast-tracked government funds for relief during the COVID-19 pandemic uncovered bottlenecks at federal, university and community levels that undermined partnerships. Researchers, including UC Merced Professor Nancy Burke , made several recommendations to strengthen financial partnerships that underlie community-based participatory research.

It’s spring break 2009 and Jane Lawrence is rushing across campus, the words from the phone call still ringing in her ear. The unimaginable is happening and she must tell Charles Nies,

First Lady Michelle Obama is coming to UC Merced as commencement speaker.

Lawrence, the vice chancellor for student affairs, finds her associate vice chancellor in his office. With the campus quiet and students gone home, Nies had brought his two young daughters to work.

“Flora,” a film by UC Professor Yehuda Sharim, earned an award from the Latino and Native American Film Festival.

The film, which Sharim describes as a memoir of post-teen daughters of immigrants who must teach themselves about love and tenderness in a world dominated by unnecessary suffering and pain, won the festival’s Environmental, Social, Economic, Political Justice Award.

Exploring sources of historical narratives can take you to places where walls seem to move and truth feels fluid and interchangeable. Ma Vang’s research has focused on how people narrate their histories, tracking the lived experiences of people pigeonholed or marginalized by dominant narratives that privilege the record and written text.