Dear Trustees,
As many of you know, we honored nearly 2,500 graduates during three Commencement ceremonies last weekend, including more than 1,000 alumni from the Classes of 2020 and 2021. We'd like to express our heartfelt thanks to UC Merced Foundation Member at Large and Regent Emeritus Fred Ruiz, who delivered the keynote address on Saturday. This was our first in-person Spring Commencement since 2019 and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to celebrate so many Bobcats and their families. We invite you to view this highlight reel from the weekend, and are including links below to the Commencement Chronicle publication and to the videos from each ceremony.
We are looking forward to hosting the upcoming board meeting on campus on Wednesday, June 22 from 9:45 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. As we shared last week, our first-ever comprehensive campaign will be a major focus of the day as we prepare for the public launch in the fall. While in-person participation is strongly encouraged, we will offer the option to join sessions through video conference or phone call through Zoom should you require or prefer. Please advise of your participation plans at your earliest convenience through the registration form or by contacting Stephanie Sia at ucmfoundation@ucmerced.edu or 209-382-4142.
If you haven't already, please also be sure to mark your calendars for the 2022-2023 board meeting dates:
- Wednesday, September 28, 2022
- Wednesday, February 15, 2023
- Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Thank you all, and please don't hesitate to reach out should you have any questions or comments to share.
Warmest regards,
Ed, Lisa, and Stephanie
E. Edward Klotzbier, JD
Vice Chancellor
President, UC Merced Foundation
Lisa Pollard Carlson
Associate Vice Chancellor
Vice President, UC Merced Foundation
Stephanie Sia
Director, Foundation Board
|
|
Following 7 years on the UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees, and 5 years as Treasurer, Roger Sturdevant has made the decision to step down from active service and join the UC Merced Fellows program. We are so grateful for his support throughout the years and look forward to his continued participation as a close partner of our campus. |
|
Our very own Foundation Intern Hannah Meskienyar graduated on Saturday from the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts with a degree in Management and Business Economics! Hannah will be starting a summer internship next month, but will return to deliver a presentation at our board meeting in June. We are incredibly grateful for her hard work and support over the past eight months and are excited for her bright future ahead. Please join us in wishing her well as she embarks on this next chapter. |
|
Full Board Meeting | RSVP
Wednesday, June 22, 2022 | 9:45 am - 5:30 pm
Work Group Meetings
Advocacy & Awareness WG | RSVP
Wednesday, May 25, 2022 | 2:00 pm
Wednesday, June 1, 2022 | 11:00 am
2022-2023 Full Board Meetings
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
|
|
2022 UC Merced Advocacy Initiative |
|
Thank you again to those who were able to participate in our virtual 2022 Advocacy Initiative. Our advocate teams of trustees, students, and alumni met with 26 state legislators to share UC Merced's story and ensure they support funding for the UC system.
Please be sure to share your feedback through this brief survey to help inform future meetings and opportunities.
|
|
|
|
We appreciate the board's generosity and annual support through the Trustees' Impact Fund. Contributions to the 2022 Fund and other funds that are meaningful to you can be made online here or by completing and mailing this form.
|
|
|
|
Silicon Valley Reception
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
5:30 pm
Portola Valley, CA
You are cordially invited for a special reception with Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz, hosted by Trustee Ty Jagerson. Please contact Joe Hefta (209-749-3063 or jhefta@ucmerced.edu) to RSVP or if you have any questions.
|
|
|
|
The U.S. Senate confirmed UC Merced Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe to be the new director of the Office of Science in the federal Department of Energy. The Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the lead federal agency supporting fundamental scientific research for energy, and the nation’s largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences.
|
|
|
|
The Carnegie Corporation of New York announced that UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees Presidential Chair Jessica Trounstine has been named to the 2022 Class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. Each of the program's 28 award recipients will receive a $200,000 stipend to devote their time to research and writing in the social sciences and humanities. This year's commitment totals $5.6 million in philanthropic support.
|
|
UC Merced continues to pave the way to success for students of color to thrive at a four-year college. To continue to support these efforts, the campus, in collaboration with Stanislaus State, announced the expansion of the 1300 Campaign, an initiative aimed to send an additional 1,300 young people of color into the UC and California State University (CSU) systems by 2030. The 1300 Campaign will focus on high school students in the Northern Central Valley, including the areas of Modesto, Merced and San Joaquin counties.
|
|
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded a $750,000 grant to the UC Merced Library in partnership with the Center for the Humanities to establish a research archive documenting the Sierra Nevada and Central Valley. With an additional $750,000 from the $20 million gift provided by philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett, to the university last year, the $1.5 million combined will fund a capital project to renovate space in the library to store and showcase a variety of special collections.
|
|
Undergraduates will have a new, one-of-a-kind class they can sign up for this fall — Climate Justice — a hybrid course that features lectures by faculty from all 10 UC campuses.
According to the UC Center for Climate Justice’s website, “climate justice recognizes the disproportionate impacts of climate change on low-income communities and communities of color around the world, the people and places least responsible for the problem. It seeks solutions that address the root causes of climate change and in doing so, simultaneously address a broad range of social, racial, and environmental injustices."
|
|
Two undergraduate students who received their bachelor’s degrees this month were selected for a unique opportunity to attend a meeting of some of the greatest minds in the world. Professor Aurora Pribram-Jones, with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, nominated undergraduates Estefania Cuevas-Zepeda and Zachary Mauri to travel to Lindau, Germany, at the end of June for the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Both students, along with recent Ph.D. alum Ali AbouTaka, were invited to attend, but only Mauri will make the trip overseas.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
