Kenneth Mashinchi

Two simple words, “Leland Legacy,” captured the significance of Wednesday’s opening event for the second phase of the Merced 2020 Project, an event that doubled as a goodbye and thank you to outgoing Chancellor Dorothy Leland.

The message graced a wall of the new Sustainability Research and Engineering Building in large white block letters, a nod to Leland’s tireless effort and motivation to lead the award-winning expansion project.

UC Merced’s desire to fight food insecurity in Merced County and on campus got a big boost recently after being awarded a $492,000 grant from CalRecycle.

The growing UC Merced campus is nearly ready to debut the second phase of the innovative Merced 2020 Project, a multiyear plan to add 1.2 million gross square feet of classroom, office, research laboratory, dining, recreation, housing and other needed facilities.

Phase two will include the Arts and Computational Sciences Building, the Sustainability Research and Engineering Building, a Research Server Container Facility, a regional loading dock, a recreation field and outdoor basketball courts, and additional residential housing.

Dr. Art Kamangar and Calvin E. Bright have been invaluable in the development of UC Merced since before the campus opened its doors. To commemorate their philanthropy and outstanding service, this week they were awarded the prestigious Chancellor’s Medal, the highest honor for extraordinary accomplishment bestowed upon an individual by the university.

UC Merced continues to build on its reputation as a world-class research university, debuting at No. 4 among U.S. universities in the 2019 Times Higher Education Young University Rankings released today.

The list ranks the best 351 universities in the world that are 50 years old and younger. UC Merced ranked No. 60 among all universities that qualified for the list.

This is UC Merced’s first year of eligibility for the ranking, which weighs teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income of qualifying universities.

It started with a simple off-hand comment, one that would likely be met with a chuckle at any other institution. At UC Merced, it became a ripple that has changed the academic and social strata of an entire school.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are pillars of UC Merced’s mission to serve, teach and conduct research. After years of working to find a permanent support space for students of all demographics on campus, the campus unveiled its new Multicultural Center last month.

Long hours spent using the library’s print and digital resources are often a hallmark of a college student’s academic career. For Marisela Padilla Alcala and Sarah Lee, time spent in the library resulted in being named recipients of the Carter Joseph Abrescy and Larry Kranich Library Award for Student Research Excellence.

It was not my intention to be your commencement speaker this morning, and you were no doubt looking forward to having California’s First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom share her wisdom with you today. I am sorry that she could not be here, but I understand and respect her decision not to attend this ceremony, as the University of California system continues important contract negotiations with one of its labor unions.

In Ms. Siebel Newsom’s stead, as your chancellor, it is my great honor to formally address the UC Merced graduating class of 2019.

Graduating senior Araceli Perez was looking for a new environment when she moved from Hacienda Heights to attend UC Merced in 2015.

The shift from the high-intensity region of Los Angeles to the more relaxed atmosphere of Merced was more than a change of pace. In her four years at UC Merced, she always welcomed the chance to experience something new — whether that was cheerleading or back-packing for an archaeological project in the Sierra Nevada.