Brenda Ortiz

UC Merced’s Vice Provost and Graduate Dean Marjorie S. Zatz was selected as one of the Top 35 Women in Higher Education in Diverse: Issues In Higher Education’s eighth annual special report recognizing the contributions of women to higher education.

The edition, in honor of Women’s History Month, marks the publication’s 35th anniversary by highlighting 35 women who are tackling some of higher education’s toughest challenges, exhibiting extraordinary leadership skills and making a difference in their respective communities.

UC Merced is partnering with UC Santa Barbara and two California State University campuses — Fresno and Channel Islands — on a project to create a more diverse STEM faculty at colleges and universities nationwide.

The quartet has been awarded a total of $2 million from the National Science Foundation’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program for a joint research project intended to increase the number of underrepresented minority faculty members in STEM fields.

The goal is to develop a model that’s applicable — and replicable.

UC Merced is part of a consortium of more than 40 institutions and organizations from the public and private sectors at the forefront of a national effort to increase the number of Hispanic students who participate in computing.

UC Merced is part of a concerted effort to dramatically increase diversity in physics and astronomy over the next five years.

The campus is one of nine University of California campuses and 15 California State University campuses awarded a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation through the Cal-Bridge North program.

A new grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will help UC Merced further diversify its community of graduate students and faculty, beginning with the humanities and humanistic social sciences.

Two of UC Merced’s newest postdoctoral researchers, Colleen Cheverko and Maria-Elena Young, received the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (CPFP) for 2018-2019.

The fellowships, which are for one year with a potential one-year renewal, provide professional development and faculty mentoring to outstanding postdoc scholars whose research, teaching and service contribute to diversity and equal opportunity at the University of California.

Jaapna Dhillon had no idea that studying how almonds affect health would win her a huge advantage in securing a tenure-track position.

But Dhillon just became UC Merced’s first postdoctoral researcher to receive a Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

At the 14th annual UC Merced Leadership Awards, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty advisors and student organizations were celebrated Hollywood style — complete with cameras, lights and a “red carpet” entrance — for their service to the campus community and beyond.

Kimberly Ramirez Gonzalez has been advocating for youth for four years and she is committed to dedicating the rest of her life to doing so.