New
Beginnings
The Office of Information Technology has been working on a number of projects to develop and improve the technology experiences of the University. Here are some we'd like to highlight from the 2023/2024 year.
Online Course Design Program
January 2024
In January of 2024, the Teaching Commons launched their Online Course Design Program to support our Faculty partners in developing their own online courses and preparing for the Undergraduate Council (UGC) process.
Teaching Commons Re-Launch
December 2023
In December of 2023, the UC Merced Teaching Commons was re-established as a collaborative unit comprised of Academic and Classroom Technology Services (ACTS), The Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning (CETL), and Students Assessing Teaching and Learning (SATAL).
Overleaf Access
July 2023
In collaboration with the Graduate Division, the CIRT team reduced the cost and increased campus access to Overleaf, a tool available for campus researchers. Visit the ServiceHub to gain access.
CENVAL-ARC
Summer 2024
The Cyberinfrastructure & Research Technologies (CIRT) team, along with faculty collaborators at multiple San Joaquin Valley educational institutions, was awarded a unique grant that supports the growth of High Performance Computing resources within the Central Valley. This effort was named Central Valley Accessible Research and Computational Hub (CENVAL-ARC). With the grant funds, new hardware was added to UC Merced's high-performance computing (HPC) clusters.
Be on the lookout next academic year for even more from CENVAL-ARC!
Promise Housing
July/October 2023
UC Merced and Merced College entered into a compact to build a shared housing facility location on the UC Merced campus to provide affordable housing to the student population of both campuses. OIT has been collaborating on the building design, with a slated building completion of Fall 2026.
Medical Education Building
August 2024
The eventual home for UC Merced's Office of Medical Education and the multi-campus SJVPRIME+ program, UC Merced's new Medical Education Building will house teaching and learning spaces, labs, and administrative offices to support foundational medical education and research in the San Joaquin Valley. OIT has been actively collaborating on the design of the facility as well as the delivery of the undergraduate education and support for the first SJVPRIME+ Cohort. The building is slated to open in Fall 2026.
Digital Signage
April 2024
In April of 2024, OIT launched a number of campus-wide digital signage services, including a one-time posting request and individual staff and faculty access to the platform to post promotional flyers and information.
ProtectUs
April 2024
In February 2024, University of California's President Michael Drake sent a letter to all University of California chancellors detailing cybersecurity enhancements to be implemented by June 2025.
The Office of Information Technology has spent the past several months planning our response to these requirements, including budgetary estimates that were submitted via the campus budget call process for awareness and transparency.
As we begin to move forward with implementation, we will be organizing this work under our recently announced ProtectUs campaign, a campus-wide engagement effort to socialize cybersecurity best practices.