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Remarks and Writings

Interview: Breaking Barriers in Higher Education

April 21, 2021
Re: Interview - Breaking Barriers in Higher Education To: All campus April 21, 2021   In this podcast interview with Diverse: In the Margins, Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz, a first-generation college student who became a lifelong advocate for providing education and social mobility for students from underrepresented backgrounds,... Read More

On the Chauvin Trial Verdict

April 20, 2021
Re: On the Chauvin Trial Verdict To: All campus April 20, 2021   Dear Campus Community,   The killing of George Floyd was a tragedy that drew international attention to problems within American policing — attention that was overdue, and problems that have long been a stain on our nation.  ... Read More

Honoring Cesar Chavez

March 24, 2021
  Re: Honoring Cesar Chavez To: All campus March 24, 2021   Dear Campus Colleagues,   Fifty-five years ago this week, a major movement in US civil rights history spent the night in Merced on its march from Delano to Sacramento to fight for the basic dignity of California farm workers.   Cesar... Read More

We Stand With Our AAPI Community and Against Hate

March 19, 2021
Re: We Stand With Our AAPI Community and Against Hate To: All campus March 19, 2021   Dear Campus Community,   We have witnessed a recent, disturbing rise in unprovoked violence and harassment toward Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) across the nation — including the homicides in Georgia this week of... Read More

A Different Sort of Pandemic

March 18, 2021
RE: A Different Sort of Pandemic To: All campus March 18, 2021   Dear Campus Community:   It has been a year since California issued the emergency shelter-in-place order that officially confirmed that COVID-19 was upending our world. Even as decreasing infection rates and increasing vaccination rates give us hope, it is... Read More

UC Merced's First Rhodes Scholar

March 10, 2021
Re: UC Merced's First Rhodes Scholar To: All faculty and staff March 10, 2021   Dear Campus Community,   It gives me great pleasure to announce to our community the naming of UC Merced’s first Rhodes Scholar — Selina Brinkmann, a mechanical engineering master's student who will go on to study... Read More

Spring 2021 Commencement

March 2, 2021
Re: Spring 2021 Commencement To: All students, staff and faculty March 2, 2021   Dear Campus Community,   While our COVID Response Center has been working hard to stem the spread of COVID-19 on our campus and readying us for a return to in-person operations as soon as possible through regular asymptomatic testing and... Read More

Seeing the Light

February 11, 2021
Re: Seeing the Light To: All faculty and staff Feb. 11, 2021   Dear Campus Colleagues,   When UC Merced, like most higher education institutions, made the decision to move to remote learning back in April 2020, not many could have predicted how long it would take to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This pandemic... Read More

Chief Campus Counsel Search

February 8, 2021
Re: Chief Campus Counsel Search To: All faculty and staff Feb. 8, 2021   Members of the Campus Community,   Chief Campus Counsel and Associate General Counsel Elisabeth R. Günther is retiring and will be leaving her role at UC Merced on April 30, 2021.   Elisabeth joined the UC Office of General Counsel in... Read More

Black History Month

January 28, 2021
Re: Black History Month To: All Campus January 28, 2021   As we prepare to celebrate Black History Month, I am reflecting on the commitment we share to realizing justice for the Black community by continuing to encourage inclusive excellence at UC Merced.   While we have miles to go in our journey toward a truly... Read More

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