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Remarks and Writings

Messages to Campus
May 15 2018

Thank you

Dear Faculty and Staff, Commencement weekend is a highlight of the academic year, and this year we were blessed with two days of great weather, inspiring speakers, talented singers, and a joyous celebration of our wonderful students and their families...
Mar 07 2018

A More Civil Discourse

Dear Campus Community, Yesterday, a group of our students were tabling on Scholars Lane, with signs that promoted messages that were clearly intended to create an unwelcome environment for our nearly 600 undocumented students. The incident disturbed...
Mar 06 2018

Looking Ahead to 2030

Dear Campus Community, It is hard to believe, but in just six months the first buildings of UC Merced’s unprecedented, international award-winning campus expansion will open. When the project is entirely complete in Fall 2020, it will provide...
Feb 06 2018

Engaging With Students

Hello UC Merced Bobcats, I hope your spring semester is off to a good start! One of my favorite hobbies is photography, so I don’t mind our damp foggy mornings and the great atmosphere they create, but spring is right around the corner! Like...
Jan 25 2018

Update from the Board of Regents meeting

Dear Campus Community,   Yesterday I spoke to the regents about the need for increased funding for our young campus and how we would use a proposed in-state undergraduate tuition increase — or, as is our preference, a state buyout of...
Jan 16 2018

Reflecting on Academic Freedom, Free Speech and Hate Speech

Dear Campus Community, I want to extend a warm welcome back after what I hope was a restful, refreshing break spent with family and friends. As I reflect on a year that was full of changes, challenges and some great successes, and look ahead to a new...
Nov 27 2017

Tax Reform and How You Can Help

Dear Campus Community,   Like many of you, I have been closely monitoring House and Senate action on tax reform efforts in Washington. It has been a high-priority concern of the higher education community since the bill was introduced earlier this...
Nov 20 2017

Thankful - For You

Dear Faculty and Staff, As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday and a well-earned break, I want to express how much I appreciate the truly inspirational dedication you have shown to the growth and success of this university and its students. We are a...
Oct 23 2017

Homecoming Weekend - Thank You!

  Dear campus community, More than 2,000 people were on campus this past weekend for a truly special series of events presented under a fitting title: Homecoming. Many of our alumni returned to their academic home, prospective students visited...
Oct 11 2017

California Wildfires and How You Can Help

Dear Campus Community, The wildfires burning in Sonoma County and elsewhere are bringing unhealthy air into the Merced community, and we will continue to post air quality alerts and alert the campus community if the situation worsens.  For now,...
Sep 14 2017

Reaffirming Our Principles of Community

Dear Campus Community, UC Merced is guided by our “ Principles of Community ” and the UC Board of Regents’ “ Principles Against Intolerance ,” which express the ideals that we strive to live up to. In this time of...
Aug 28 2017

Welcome to the 2017-18 Academic Year

Dear Students, Welcome to the 2017-18 academic year! It has been a busy start, with 2,200 new students joining the Bobcat family. Our student body is diverse in beliefs, values, and identities but bonded through curiosity, diligence, and a desire to...
Aug 21 2017

Affirming Our Campus Commitment

Dear Campus Community,   UC Merced has always been a place that prides itself on diversity and inclusion, and where people from various backgrounds and with various identities can live, work, study and learn together. This week, now that our...
Jul 14 2017

Concern for Our Students After Weekend Incident

Dear Campus Community,   Yesterday, approximately one hundred members of the UC Merced community and others joined in a peaceful protest motivated by the recent troubling incident that occurred at the Chandelier Hookah Lounge this past weekend....
Messages to Campus, Campus Communique
May 01 2018

Lessening the Grip of Fear

Dear Campus Community, I know many of us have been concerned about possible threats to our campus community caused by a Facebook post by one of our students. The post that created the alarm included a photo of a man who committed a mass shooting,...
Campus Communique
Jan 22 2018

UC Merced Undocumented Immigrants

Dear Campus Community,  Last week I traveled with Boe Mendewala to Washington, D.C., to urge members of Congress to pursue a clean Dream Act to protect the nearly 600 undocumented students at UC Merced and thousands more throughout the nation....
Messages to Campus, DACA
Sep 05 2017

DACA and our undocumented students

Dear Campus Community, As you have likely heard, today President Donald Trump is rescinding the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that was enacted in 2012 and has protected 800,000 young adult unauthorized immigrants from deportation...