Re: The State of the University
To: All campus
Oct. 5, 2022
Dear Bobcats,
Reflecting on all that we’ve accomplished together over the past year in my annual State of the University address, it is evident that UC Merced is positioned to continue exceeding expectations as the youngest research university in the 21st century. Some of the highlights from the State of the University include our tremendous accomplishments in enrollment, research and securing funding to continue our inevitable path towards R1 status.
Following another record year of applications, we have the largest enrollment in our university’s history, despite the current trend of declining enrollment nationally. UC Merced is increasingly becoming a first-choice for many students in California and beyond.
Our research continues to answer the call of today’s most pressing challenges, earning our campus well-deserved notoriety and the funding to continue our exceptional programs. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education ranked UC Merced as a platinum university, tied for number 1 in the nation for its research on sustainability. And I’m pleased to share with you the latest news: Ecowatch has named UC Merced the Greenest College Campus in the United States.
Additionally, UC Merced was allocated more than 100 million new dollars this year, including new funding for climate-related initiatives, the Community and Labor Center, and a campus expansion that will allow us to build a medical education building to house our BS to MD program, among several other initiatives.
Our faculty have been awarded a record amount of research grant funding this year – 97.5 million dollars in research grants for 260 individual proposals — nearly tripling the dollar amount over two years. We thank former Interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development Marjorie Zatz for leading the way and championing our vision of becoming an R1 institution in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, and we welcome new Vice Chancellor Dr. Gillian Wilson, who will most certainly keep us on an upward trajectory.
Finally, I announced our ambitious but attainable comprehensive fundraising campaign to raise $100 million by 2030 to continue to advance UC Merced as a leader in teaching, research and social mobility. “Boldly Forward” will further the university's ability to meet great needs and find solutions for pressing issues facing the Valley and beyond. And we are already more than halfway there.
It is my distinct pleasure to share these collective triumphs – and many more – with you through this year’s State of the University address, which I delivered to our trustees at the UC Merced Foundation’s recent meeting on campus. As we continue to push past the boundaries of what was once thought possible for our campus, our region and ourselves, I hope you share the immense pride I feel for our university and the community we’ve built here.
Sincerely,
Juan Sánchez Muñoz
Chancellor
