December 2, 2019
MESSAGE FROM VICE PRESIDENT ED KLOTZBIER
UC Merced Fellows,
 
We are excited to share this briefing with you — a quarterly email to keep you connected to the University to stay up to date on campus news, accolades, and events. We hope it builds on the great spirit of community we are known for and gives you information you can use in telling our story to family and friends.
 
This has been a tremendous year in the history of our institution. We have celebrated the accomplishments of retiring Chancellor Dorothy Leland, welcomed Interim Chancellor Nathan Brostrom to the campus community, opened two cutting-edge academic buildings as the second phase of the innovative Merced 2020 Project, and celebrated strong academic and social mobility rankings in our 15 th year of teaching, research and public service.
 
Your partnership in advancing UC Merced’s mission will remain essential to our continued success. From supporting our talented students to promoting the University with your networks and friends, we would not be the UC Merced we are today without your ongoing contributions.
 
As we enjoy the holiday season, please know how very grateful we are to count you as our most dedicated partners and friends. We hope we can celebrate with you at the upcoming Chancellor’s Holiday Social on Dec. 11 at the Art Kamangar Center at the Merced Theatre. 
Upcoming Events

December 11: Chancellor's Holiday Social at the Art Kamangar Center at the Merced Theatre
 
December 13: Fall Innovate to Grow
 
December 15: Fall Commencement
 
Bobcat Athletics Schedule
Help Us Identify Our Next Commencement Speaker

Commencement is the time of year when we celebrate our graduates and their achievements, but it is truly a campuswide celebration. When the graduates cross the stage, they symbolize the Bobcat spirit that we all have. Likewise, the keynote speakers who address each class inspire us and our graduates as they continue their journeys. Last year, we introduced a keynote speaker nomination process that invited members of the university to recommend potential speakers.

Now, we are asking YOU to help us find the speakers who will inspire our spring graduates. Maybe it’s a former colleague, a mentor, or someone who has inspired you from afar. Who can motivate the next class of leaders to do what it takes to be champions in their fields and contributors in their communities?

Nominations can be made online and questions about the nomination process may be sent to ucmfoundation@ucmerced.edu .

It’s our sincere hope that you’ll take this opportunity to carefully consider those in your network who might best launch our next graduating class with their words of encouragement and inspiration.
2019 Trustees' Impact Fund

The UC Merced Foundation is raising funds to support the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve , which is a part of the UC Natural Reserve System. Gifts received towards the project will help build a field research station on the site and will be eligible for a dollar-for-dollar match by the State of California through Proposition 68, effectively doubling the impact of the gift. Please consider helping the board reach their goal of raising over $150,000 towards the project by December 31, 2019. Gifts can be made online using the link below. If you are interested in learning more about the project, please contact Lisa Pollard Carlson at lpollard@ucmerced.edu or (209) 291-8169.

Political science Professor Jessica Trounstine has been awarded the inaugural UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees Presidential Chair, created to recognize the excellent contributions of a faculty member in a field of research.

The UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees welcomed six new members, and an alumni representative, on Wednesday during their fall meeting on campus. Later in the day Interim Chancellor Nathan Brostrom presented the annual Chancellor’s Address to the UC Merced Foundation and invited guests.

Calista Lum is delaying her junior year at UC Merced — to work at NASA. After interning over the summer with NASA through the MACES program she was offered a one-year extension to work in Langly.
 
Dr. Thelma Hurd’s journey in medicine has taken her from New Jersey to Nigeria, with stops in Texas and Buffalo. Hurd has now joined UC Merced, where she became the university’s director of medical education last month.

Professor Peggy O’Day hopes to improve water quality in the California Delta by studying local wetlands. O’Day is leading a new three-year study of Merced County wetlands that drain into the San Joaquin River and eventually the Delta.

Brostrom welcomed the former senior White House official before a capacity crowd of campus and community members for a conversation on “The Future of American Democracy."