UC Merced comes into its own with major expansion planned

The library at UC Merced. Eleven years after opening its doors as the first new American research university of the 21st century, UC Merced is attracting more students, winning research accolades, rising in national rankings — and moving forward with an ambitious campus expansion.

Laura Showalter is a research technician at UC Merced, which has embarked on a $1.3-billion expansion that will include new student housing, research labs, a dining hall, a pool and fitness facilities.

Students clean a solar device at UC Merced, which has attracted strong faculty, including Roland Winston, who came to sunny Merced from the University of Chicago for the chance to perfect a solar technology that is now being installed in China, Mongolia and other far-flung places.

Daisy Urbina studies in the Lantern at UC Merced. The recent accolades have created positive buzz about Merced, long the campus of last resort for students rejected at their preferred UC choices.

Roland Winston, who came to sunny Merced from the University of Chicago, is the director of UC Solar, which has all the UC campuses involved in researching ways to make solar energy more efficient and affordable.

Though UC Merced’s six-year graduation rate of 67% still is the lowest among UC campuses, it is higher than predicted for students with the school’s demographics and was one reason the campus landed for the first time this year on U.S. News & World Report’s list of top national universities.

Dorothy Leland is the third chancellor of the University of California, Merced. She was appointed to her position by the UC Board of Regents on May 18, 2011, and began her term on July 1.

Conceived by noted American sculptor Aris Demetrios, “Beginnings” consists of two vertical stainless steel arms, each about 40 feet high, rising from a large circular base at UC Merced. New students begin their scholastic journey by walking through the sculpture and pass through it again upon graduation.