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Jody Murray

UC Merced campus photo of sign

Student Production of ’26 Pebbles’ Encircles Tragedy with Healing and Hope

It is impossible to avoid — the real-life event that frames the play “26 Pebbles” is disturbing. Heartbreaking.

Which makes all the more remarkable the play’s uplifting message of human resilience and the ability to come together after an unspeakable tragedy — the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Following the Mission to Improve Valley Health Care

It was a groundbreaking Tuesday night so there were shovels. Many shovels. Full sized, posterized, miniaturized (in a gift box). All to mark a symbolic turning of earth for UC Merced’s Medical Education Center.

The tools also evoke something Dr. Kenny Banh said nearly a year ago. A top administrator at UC San Francisco's Fresno campus, he was talking about San Joaquin Valley PRIME, a program that prepared students from the Valley for a medical career. Training included at least a year in the Bay Area.

Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center Gets $3.9 Million Extension

UC Merced’s Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center has earned multiyear funding to continue its mission to embolden community partners and share policy-influencing data in the long battle against the pervasive use of tobacco and other inhalants in underserved San Joaquin Valley and foothill populations.

Happy Birthday to Undergrad Journals that Spark Students’ Aspirations

It’s a pair of special birthdays for UC Merced’s two student-run journals for undergraduates. The Vernal Pool , which publishes creative stories, poems and images, turned 10 this academic year. Meanwhile, it’s the sweet 16th for the Undergraduate Research Journal , which provides an early taste of the lifeblood of graduate and post-grad research — peer-reviewed publication.

Thousands Enjoy a Big ‘Welcome’ at Bobcat Day

Fernando Malagon and his mom stood at the head of a line for guided tours of the university he plans to attend this fall. The informational stroll around UC Merced would be more for her than for him; he visited the campus five years ago on a seventh-grade field trip from Modesto.

Of course, the university has grown since then, not just in square footage but in opportunity and possibility.

Shakespeare in Yosemite Goes Big for Magical ‘Midsummer’

There’s nothing small about this year’s Shakespeare in Yosemite production. It boasts the largest cast in the program’s seven-year history and, for the first time, features a full band to deliver the score and propel the musical numbers. The headcount for park staff in the cast is an all-time high.

“The stage will be very crowded for the curtain calls,” director Katie Brokaw said.

Creators of TeleLingo, a Spanish Immersion Show for Children, Come to UC Merced

(Lee este artículo en español.)

Take the cultural rewards of preserving Spanish for babies and toddlers in a bilingual home. Bring in two speech pathologists steeped in techniques that make language learning irresistible for young minds. Sprinkle in bright colors, bold graphics and infectious energy. Bolt everything to the most powerful video-sharing website on the planet.

Add puppets.

Bobcat Art Show Puts Broad Range of Creativity on Display

The 12th edition of the Bobcat Art Show, which debuts this week in a new space, is further proof that creativity can come from anywhere in the UC Merced community.

“In addition to the amazing work done by our Global Arts Studies students and faculty, we have some incredible pieces by engineers, finance managers, anthropologists and more – demonstrating how the power of art truly knows no bounds,” said Collin Lewis, the university’s executive director for the arts.

Youth Grapple with Interpreting the Unspoken for Their Immigrant Families

UC Merced researchers are shedding light on a little-explored aspect of cross-cultural communication that involves no spoken words but sometimes can cause confusion and anguish for children acting as interpreters for older family members.

Perfect Fit: Maker Space, Dining Services Unite for Kitchen Rescue

It was a terrible trifecta: a busted tilt skillet, an obsolete replacement part and thousands of hungry students restarting classes in six days.

For a UC Merced Dining Services team facing a logistical kitchen nightmare, the solution was a savory mix of collaboration and outside-the-pizza-box thinking. And it happened barely 12 giant steps from the broken cooker in the Pavilion dining center.

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