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Remarks and Writings

December 11, 2014
Dear colleagues, It’s that time of year when we celebrate the merriment and good will of the holidays. I would like to take a moment to thank you for your continued dedication and enormous personal contributions to the success of UC Merced. All of us can take great pride in the achievements of our first 10 years including ground-... Read More
November 7, 2014
Dear UC Merced students and families, You might have heard by now about a proposal to implement a new five-year plan for low, predictable tuition increases that will allow students and families at all income levels to budget for the total cost of their UC educations. The proposal was announced yesterday by UC President Janet Napolitano.... Read More
November 5, 2014
Dear students, You may be aware of California’s recently passed “Yes Means Yes” legislation that sets new standards for ensuring sexual contact among college students is consensual. The law also specifies how reports or complaints of unwanted sexual activity are to be investigated and acted upon by university administrators... Read More
September 17, 2014
Dear colleagues, The fall semester is in full swing and now that the crunch of the first few weeks is over, it is a good time to provide you with my first campus update for this academic year, our 10th. This will be a year in which many initiatives underway will begin coming to fruition. Faculty members will finish the first phase of their... Read More
June 30, 2014
Dear colleagues,   I wanted to share some good news that shows significant progress in Project 2020, our accelerated growth plan that will bring the campus to 10,000 students in the next six years.   The campus is the top bidder for a piece of publicly auctioned land in downtown Merced that will likely serve as the site of a... Read More
June 6, 2014
Dear colleagues:   With the spring semester over and summer underway, UC Merced is a bit quieter even though we continue to serve a growing population of students in our summer sessions. But summer is typically a time when faculty members can focus on their innovative research, staff members can work on bigger projects and everyone can... Read More
May 27, 2014
The UC Merced community is deeply saddened by the senseless and tragic deaths of six UC Santa Barbara students during a shooting rampage this weekend.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the students who were killed and injured in this attack. A fund for families of the victims has been established through the... Read More
April 9, 2014
Dear students and colleagues,   I wanted to inform you of Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jane Lawrence’s decision to step down this summer from the day-to-day responsibilities as vice chancellor. As a founding vice chancellor, Jane has been an enthusiastic and tireless voice on behalf of our students even before the first class... Read More
March 19, 2014
Colleagues,   As you may recall, the University of California Campus Climate survey was administered on our campus a year ago as part of a systemwide effort to gather perspectives on living, studying and working within the UC system. Many of you participated in the survey (38 percent of faculty and 50 percent of staff), as did both... Read More
February 25, 2014
Dear colleagues: Now that the spring semester is well underway, I wanted to pause for a moment and provide you with a campus update. It’s always a challenge for me to decide what you might be most interested in learning from me. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I miss the mark. But I am always interested in your suggestions... Read More

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