UC Merced on Wednesday unveiled a striking monument to a university on the rise.
A crowd of students, faculty and staff gathered in the early evening’s long shadows at University Plaza to get their first look at Big Rufus, a 10-foot-long bronze vision of UC Merced’s bobcat mascot. The sculpture paws its way up three staggered concrete-and-steel pillars, gazing resolutely to the horizon.
“The bobcat has roamed the wild landscapes of North America for hundreds of years,” said Juan Sánchez Muñoz, chancellor of UC Merced, a nationally recognized university that broke ground only 22 years ago. “Our mascot is a celebration of the fierce independence and courage it took to place a university here.”
Big Rufus soars to nearly 17 feet at its location at UC Merced’s main entrance. The pillars are stamped with inspirational words chosen by students: Resilience. Opportunity. Future. Diversity. Hope.
As requested by students, artist Dan Medina years ago embedded that last word into the bronze’s design. Then, a month ago, his mother died. Her name is Hope.
“It’s a word you chose, a word I believe in and a word that is dear to my heart. So I thank you for that,” Medina told attendees at the unveiling.
Speakers representing aspects of the campus community spoke before the black drape concealing Big Rufus was removed. Collin Lewis, UC Merced’s executive director for the arts, thanked colleagues in the Department of Planning, Design and Construction Management who prepared the monument site, led by Senior Project Manager Robin Walker. He also lauded his predecessor, Kim Garner, and others who first envisioned Big Rufus in 2020.
Lewis also cited the philanthropic support for the project, especially that of Art Kamangar, the lead donor for the Big Rufus sculpture.
Jose Medina, vice president of Staff Assembly and a Merced native, said the monument symbolizes the creativity, innovation and shared values that make UC Merced unique.
“Public arts serve as a reflection of our community, embodying our hopes, our diversity and our vision for the future,” said Medina, program coordinator for the Calvin E. Bright Success Center.
Kevin Mitchell, a UC Merced founding professor and chair of the Academic Senate, asked attendees to be thankful that, in 2001, the bobcat was chosen as mascot instead of a strong contender: the fairy shrimp, a 1-centimeter creature that lives in the vernal pools nearby.
“Otherwise,” Mitchell said, “those here might have been forced to gaze at the world’s largest sculpture of a tiny crustacean.”
Josiah Beharry, a second-year graduate student and UC Merced’s first student representative on the UC Board of Regents, noted that locating the monument at the university’s main entrance was intentional.
“It's the first thing families will see when they drop off their students, the landmark you will walk past every day on your way to class. But its power will come from the meaning we give it,” Beharry said.
“Being a Bobcat means you become part of a community that believes in rising above limitations, shattering expectations and redefining what is possible. You become the proof that no matter where you begin, it's about where you decide to go that shapes the world.”
Dan Medina, a Los Angeles-area, tech-savvy artist who had his hands in every step of the sculpture’s creation and the foundation’s design, shared his vision of how the monument would become part of students’ lives in the years to come.
“I took some artistic liberty with the anatomy of the face to promote this stoic, resolute gaze into the horizon. It's emblematic of planning the future, of your personal evolution,” he said.
“So aside from being a beautiful place to come out and contemplate what their lives mean and where they're going, I think it's going to give them a sense of pride. 'This is us. This is who we are.'”
With the speeches complete, the time came to reveal Big Rufus. Muñoz and six others took up the rope attached to the black drape and pulled. The fabric fell away steadily then stopped, stubbornly gripping the cat’s back. At Dan Medina’s urging, the seven moved about 15 feet to their left and pulled again.
Success. Applause. Welcome, Big Rufus.
