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Merced Promise

November 18, 2020
Re: Merced Promise
To: All campus
Nov. 18, 2020
 
To the Campus Community,
 
Last Friday I had the great pleasure to join with my Merced College counterpart, President Chris Vitelli, in signing the Merced Promise. This new pact binds our institutions together to create a more robust educational pathway for the young people of our region — from the associate’s degree to the bachelor’s and beyond.
 
In doing so, we are fulfilling one of the promises of UC Merced’s founding — to serve a historically underserved region of California by making a UC education, enriched by the research capability for which we are globally recognized, not merely more accessible but more inviting.
 
This agreement, which took many months of intensive planning and preparation by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Gregg Camfield, Vice Chancellor Charles Nies and many others at both UC Merced and Merced College, was recognized as historic by media and public officials. U.S. Rep. Jim Costa and Assembly Member Adam Gray joined their signatures to President Vitelli’s and mine as witnesses to the Merced Promise, and pledged their efforts to ensure this pathway grows even more broad in the future.
 
Earlier last week, Vice Chancellor Nies and I spoke with many high school guidance counselors from California to help them understand how UC Merced will provide a bright future for their top students. It was invigorating to hear that this university is very much on the minds of so many of those who help young people decide the next step of their journey.
 
Recall that this year, we welcomed our largest first-year class in UC Merced history, contributing to our largest-ever student population. Make no mistake: enrollment growth is vital to a thriving future — it will serve as a catalyst to broader funding for our research agenda, our world-class teaching and our sterling reputation for building programs that support student success. The Merced Promise, building surer transfer pathways for the region’s best and brightest, is a template for agreements we hope to strike with other community colleges in the region. The enthusiastic support of high school counselors is also key to our growth of students and reputation. Each one of us can be a daily ambassador to the young people we encounter to make the case for UC Merced, and all of us should try.
 
As always, I am proud of this great institution, and grateful for everything you do every day to help UC Merced reach ever greater heights.
 
Thank you,
 
Juan Sánchez Muñoz, Ph.D.
Chancellor
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