Campus &

Community

FULFILLING A ROLE IN THE VALLEY

UC Merced is dedicated to strengthening connections with the San Joaquin Valley, a culturally diverse region that informs the university’s identity. Here are some recent examples.

City Clean-ups

The university has partnered with Merced city and county agencies to clean up parks and neighborhoods. UC Merced’s Community Engagement Center led a clean-up at Fahrens Park in October 2021. Other clean-ups were held along Bear Creek and in downtown Merced in December and Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 10).

Transfer Path From Community College

A partnership with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium makes it easier for students at San Joaquin Valley community colleges to set a path to UC Merced. Students use an online tool to explore transfer options and receive academic counseling. UC Merced is the first UC to use the pathway tool.

Growing Ag-Related Knowledge

UC Merced students and possible future Bobcats can immerse themselves in agriculture-related related research thanks to a training program supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Professor Rudy M. Ortiz runs program, called FARMERS. It offers opportunities for internships, networking and outreach to younger students by helping develop curriculum that will prepare children for college and studies in STEM fields.

Okoli Joins UC Merced

as Chief Operating Officer

Daniel Okoli brings a long resume, stretching from the Arizona’s high desert to south Wisconsin’s lakeshores and beyond, to UC Merced as the university’s new vice chancellor and chief operating officer.

Bringing a reputation as a collaborative leader, Okoli arrives the San Joaquin Valley from Flagstaff, Ariz., where since 2017 he served as Northern Arizona University’s vice president for capital planning and development. He championed NAU’s sustainability efforts and built relationships with faculty to create experiential education opportunities for students.

Previously, Okoli spent 12 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, overseeing more than $3 billion in capital projects. His work there includes completion in 2010 of the home of the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery and the Morgridge Institute for Research. Okoli also held planning and development roles at The Ohio State University and Pace University in New York. As VC/COO at UC Merced, Okoli’s responsibilities include physical operations, planning and development; design and construction management; sustainability; environmental health and safety; facilities management; fire and building safety; physical and environmental planning and space planning; and police and emergency management.

DFA Working to Optimize

Oracle System

The Division of Finance and Administration (DFA) is pushing forward on initiatives aimed at improving campus users’ experience with the Oracle-based financial management system launched in January 2021. Most of the initiatives are the result of formal and informal conversations with stakeholders from every corner of the university.

Service Requests

Reducing the wait list on service requests is the primary goal of the Center for Business Services and Solutions. The CBS2 team ramped up its face-to-face support and has doubled down on educating users on how to ensure a service ticket will flow smoothly to fulfillment.

Oracle Toolkit

The Oracle Toolkit – a collection of assistive resources, training videos and step-by-step guides - is organized by the four main ways the university uses the Oracle system: purchasing, budgeting, accounting and project management. There also are primers on the Chart of Accounts (CoA) and POET – the lifeblood of the Oracle system.

Data Integrity

Consistent information across the university’s financial management systems is the goal of the Oracle Data Integrity Project (ODIP). DFA units are working to identify and reconcile out-of-balance accounts and projects. As a result, transactions in areas such as research, education and development will be balanced as long as data input is consistent.

Training

About 80 research assistants and chief administrative officers received more than seven hours of live training to gain advanced system access, allowing them to query, view and extract data critical to business operations and services.

UC Merced is the extraordinary anomaly.

It is the future of higher education.

Na'ilah Suad Nasir

In-Person Commencements Return With Fall Event

On Dec. 18, UC Merced held its first in-person commencement in two years. Family, friends and graduates gathered at The Art Kamangar Center at The Merced Theater for the fall ceremony. It was a memorable day in a beautiful setting as students were conferred with degrees and certificates. Na'ilah Suad Nasir, president of the Spencer Foundation and a former UC instructor and student, was the featured speaker. In an interview before the event, Nasir praised the university’s earned reputation for serving underrepresented populations and first-generation students. “UC Merced is the extraordinary anomaly,” she said. “It is the future of higher education.”

(Arrow vector created by macrovector - freepik.com)

It’s not magic, it’s tech. That’s the message – well, one of them, anyway – conveyed by the Office of Information Technology’s Behind the Scenes webinar series. The program lifts the digital hood on how the Office of Information Technology manages the university’s systems and handles challenges faced within and outside the campus community, such as cybersecurity, classroom support and major system issues. Participants meet OIT staff and learn more about what they do and how they got into their field.

Each webinar also features a Q&A session to let campus users drive the discussion.

Seven webinars have been held; five more are scheduled. OIT knows how busy we are, so all of the sessions are neatly archived (tap the button below), allowing you to watch the videos and peruse the presentation slides on your schedule. Meanwhile, keep an eye out in Monday Memo for webinars to come or browse scheduled webinars on the university events calendar.

Another SuccessFUL Give to UC Merced

The Give to UC Merced 2021 fundraising initiative raised $227,569 to support programs and people throughout the university, blazing past the goal of $100,000. For a second straight year, the fundraiser was expanded from a single day to a full month.

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In 2020, $163,000 in donations were pledged. Over eight years, the Give to UC Merced initiative has raised more than $2 million for research, academic support, direct financial aid to students, and other programs.

“Once again, the entire UC Merced community came together to generously support our students, faculty, services and programs,” Vice Chancellor for External Relations Ed Klotzbier said. “The dedication of our supporters grows each year, and the positive impacts of their philanthropy cannot be overstated.”

WELCOME new staff

Nov. 1, 2021 – Jan. 31, 2022

  • Carmen Aguiniga
  • David Anderson
  • Claudia Marina Torres Arias
  • Shirley Balbin-Stacher
  • Valerie Diane Barragan
  • Rebecca Benedict
  • Marceny Bedoy
  • Annalis Benavides
  • Ashley Bridler
  • Melissa Cacho
  • Miriam Centeno
  • Ashley Charo
  • Alyssa Conroy
  • Tamara Isaac Cooksey
  • Cynthia Crestmore
  • Steve Davis
  • Eva Deloa
  • Marve Eggleston
  • Anoush Ekparian-Hadden
  • Steven Esperanzate
  • Michelle Escalante
  • Diego Espinoza
  • Chelsea Flannery
  • Beatriz Flores-Gonzalez
  • Joel Gonzalez
  • Lilia Gonzalez
  • Guadalupe Gonzalez-Yepez
  • Ana Hernandez
  • Jair Hernandez
  • Naoko Kada
  • Gulati Khushboo
  • Dariana Lara-Orellana
  • Ming Lee
  • Nancy Lee
  • Will Lee-Ladouceur
  • Marciela Lemus-Estrada
  • Alonzo Lizarde
  • Elizabeth Lopez
  • Kaitlyn Lopez
  • Julian Lopez-Robles
  • Rafael Lopez-Tinoco
  • Juana Maldonado
  • Cecilia Martinez
  • Kylie McMillan
  • Tiffanie McReynolds
  • Elizabeth Monroe
  • Kristy Moua
  • Juan Robles Nava
  • Jacqueline Novoa
  • Nancy Olguin
  • Angel Hernandez Perez
  • Thomas Pinto
  • Lisa Portela
  • Jose Ramires-Moreno
  • Sofia Ortiz Ramos
  • Esmeralda Renteria
  • Genesis Flores Renteria
  • Eric Reynoso
  • Gustavo Santana Jr.
  • Ana Sagrero-Mendoza
  • Susan Salazar
  • Myke Scaffidi
  • Sara Schneider
  • Joseandres Segura
  • Maria Cristina Soriano
  • Rosa Marili Torres
  • Rena Tacdol
  • Carlos Torres-Moreno
  • Nancy Vue
  • Bee Xiong
  • Chue Xiong
  • Nou Xiong
  • Lacee Yokley
  • Lia Youngs
  • Blanca Zarate