November 1, 2019
MESSAGE FROM CHAIR DENISE WATKINS
Fellow Trustees,
 
I hope you enjoyed a productive Board of Trustees meeting earlier this week as much as I did. I am excited about all that we are aiming to accomplish this year as a board and look forward to working together to move UC Merced forward.
 
As mentioned at the meeting, the UC Merced External Relations staff is excited to launch this monthly briefing as not only a more sustainable option for sharing news, but also a streamlined means of communicating with trustees. The goal is to provide trustees with vital information in a timely manner and to keep us all connected with exciting opportunities so you can stay involved and engaged all year.
 
Thank you for all you do for UC Merced.
Upcoming Events

November 5: Chancellor's Speaker Series: Maria Echaveste
 
December 3: Giving Tuesday
Watch your email for more information
 
December 11: Chancellor's Holiday Social at the Art Kamangar Center
Formal invitation to follow
 
December 13: Fall Innovate to Grow
 
December 15: Fall Commencement
 
February 26: Winter BOT Meeting

Bobcat Athletics Schedule

Our goal for the newly established Trustees’ Impact Fund is 100% trustee participation by the end of this calendar year. For the first year of the fund, gifts are supporting the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve – one of UC Merced’s Natural Reserve System sites. Your contribution is essential to us reaching our goal by December 31, 2019. Thank you to the many trustees who have already supported this effort. For trustees that have not yet made a gift, you can contribute online using the link below. Should you have any questions on your annual contribution, please contact Lisa Pollard Carlson at lpollard@ucmerced.edu or (209) 291-8169.
UC Presidential Match for Endowed Chairs Announcement
 
We are pleased to announce that the UC Presidential Match for Endowed Chairs has been extended for a limited time. The UC Presidential Match is a matching gift challenge program that provides match funds for endowed chairs. A gift to establish an endowed chair at the minimum required level of $500,000 and above will qualify to receive a Presidential Match of $500,000. The extension provides UC Merced with four remaining match opportunties.

Endowed chairs play a critical role in the continued success and growth of UC Merced. The highest honor a university can bestow upon a faculty member is an endowed chair. Endowed chairs allow the university to recruit and retain faculty of distinction, provide valuable resources for research, teaching and other top-priority needs, and recruit and retain stellar graduate students. Faculty members who hold endowed chairs conduct some of our most significant research, attract the best graduate students and bring considerable prestige to UC Merced and the entire University of California system.

For more information regarding the UC Presidential Match, please contact Sang Han at (209) 382-4609 or sanghan@ucmerced.edu.

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.

Professor Clarissa Nobile has been named the newest Kamangar Family Endowed Chair in Biological Sciences and will be honored at a private ceremony with the donors this fall. "I am so pleased and honored to have been named to this chair," Nobile said.

Alumna Lauren Schiebelhut ('09) credits the support and opportunities afforded to her at UC Merced with opening the door to her research career. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without the mentors I’ve interacted with throughout my academic career,” she said.

Professor Reza Ehsani is looking for ways to make harvesting strawberries easier and cheaper. As part of a four-year project, he will explore the possibilities and benefits of people and robots picking the fruit together.

UC Merced’s Applied Math department is an extremely diverse, interdisciplinary group that is implementing a department-wide program to help students learn better and focus on their futures through learning communities.