Enterprising UC Merced Students Strive to Market Telehealth

One enterprising group of UC Merced students aspires to change the face of how diabetes is managed in the Merced area.

The local chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), under the guidance of management lecturer S.A. Davis, is creating a telehealth initiative to help women manage gestational diabetes without having to make frequent trips to the doctor.

SIFE is an international nonprofit that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize college students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills necessary to become socially responsible executives. SIFE teams apply business concepts to develop outreach projects that improve the quality of life for people in need.

UC Merced's team chose to focus on diabetes in its project because the disease is so prevalent in the Central Valley and poses a laundry list of preventable side effects.

“It can’t be cured, but it can be managed,” said chapter President Jessica Gibson.

Gestational diabetes puts both mother and child in danger and managing gestational diabetes in Merced County is difficult because of inadequate access to health-care providers and cultural norms that prevent women from making regular visits to the doctor.

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New Chancellor Poised to Raise Campus Profile, Continue Growth

With a proven record of building universities, UC Merced Chancellor-Designate Dorothy Leland is prepared to lead the campus through its next phase of development by growing its academic and research profile.

"In some ways, I feel I’ve been preparing for this experience throughout my entire career," Leland said. "This is truly a dream come true, and I couldn’t be more excited about it."

The UC Board of Regents today approved Leland's appointment to serve as the third chancellor of UC Merced. She begins July 1. Leland, who holds a doctoral degree in philosophy from Purdue University, currently serves as president of Georgia College & State University.

Leland will lead UC Merced during a time of unprecedented budget challenges for California, though she said the campus' size allows it to be nimble and adjust to changes more easily than other institutions. She has worked through similar problems during her time leading Georgia College.

"A campus sustained by a spirit of innovation has the flexibility to approach issues with greater dexterity and speed without the burden of legacy traditions and programs," she said.

Leland, a California native, said she looks forward to returning to her home state to lead its newest research university. Rather than coming in with a preconceived notion about its priorities, her plan is to meet first with major stakeholders to learn from them and to understand the challenges they face in reaching their goals.

She said she sees current and potential partners, such as other educational institutions, businesses and the campus supporters, as being important for the campus' future.

"To reach our long-term goals as an institution, we must be very creative and resourceful in our efforts to partner with those who share our vision and, through their generosity or mutual interests, can help us build the foundation for a world-class institution," she said.

UC Merced, as the world's first research university of the 21st century, should foster a culture of strategic risk-taking and entrepreneurialism, she said.

"This campus can become a leader in adopting or creating new technologies, new systems, new ideas and new methodologies that could ultimately benefit the entire UC system," Leland said.

UC Merced's commitment to sustainability, through its design and its research, is an area that distinguishes it from other universities, Leland said.

"I would like to explore ways in which UC Merced might leverage and grow its sustainability emphases and gain broader national recognition and funding support as a leader in this field," she said.

Furthering the town-gown relationship is also important to Leland, who said public universities have special responsibilities for working in partnership with others for the economic, cultural and educational benefit of their regions.

"I intend to put that belief into practice in Merced and the San Joaquin Valley," she said.


UC Merced Students Selected for Harvard Latino Leadership Initiative

Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government has selected six University of California, Merced undergraduate students to attend the second Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI) Program.

LLI has partnered with seven universities across the country including UC Merced, the University of Houston, Texas A&M International University, the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Loyola Marymount University. New to the initiative this year are the University of Texas-Pan American and Miami Dade College.

The selection process was highly competitive, with more than 100 students — representing a diverse range of career interests and outstanding academic and leadership accomplishments — being nominated by their respective universities. The program, which addresses the rapid growth of the Latino population and the lack of Latino leadership representation across all sectors of society, runs June 25 to July 2.

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UC Merced Grad Finds Purpose, Plans Academic Career

Graduating senior Orisa Santiago Morrice believes his strong academic roots enabled him to excel in UC Merced’s anthropology and creative writing courses.

His family’s continuing guidance steered him toward higher education — particularly the example of his brother, who recently completed a Ph.D., and the counsel of his mother, a schoolteacher. His mother’s college experiences particularly prepared Morrice to be a critical thinker.

This fall, Morrice will begin a Master of Fine Arts in poetry at Mills College in Oakland.

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UC President Announces UC Merced Chancellor

University of California President Mark G. Yudof announced today he will recommend that the UC Board of Regents appoint Georgia College & State University President Dorothy Leland as chancellor of UC Merced, citing her accomplishments as an institution builder and higher education leader.

Leland, who grew up in the rural Southern California community of Fillmore, emerged from an exhaustive national search as the top candidate to succeed Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang, who announced in September 2010 that he plans to step down as chancellor on June 30, 2011, and return to teaching and research as a UC faculty member. Kang, who became the second chancellor of UC Merced on March 1, 2007, oversaw the growth of both enrollment and the campus itself.

As the 10th president of Georgia College, Leland has led the university to national distinction. Since becoming president on Jan. 1, 2004, she has enhanced both its academic aspects and physical facilities, overseen a 54 percent increase in federal funding for research and sponsored projects during the past five years and reached into surrounding communities with economic development and educational initiatives. Georgia College was cited by U.S. News and World Report this year among a handful of public universities with a "strong commitment to teaching," and was again named to Kiplinger's Top 100 Public Colleges.

"Dorothy Leland is a great fit for UC Merced at this pivotal stage of its development," Yudof said. "She's a proven leader who knows how to bring vision to a mission, and how to build support from different people to get things done."

If approved by the Board of Regents, Leland would take office on July 1.

UC Merced History Student Fulfills Speaking Promise at Commencement

Dulcemaria Anaya once vowed to represent her UC Merced class as the student speaker at commencement.

Anaya, a world history major from Merced, was an incoming freshman when she made the promise to her mother and herself. Over the past four years, she overcame shyness, built confidence and became more comfortable speaking in public.

“I wanted to make that promise a reality,” Anaya said.
Anaya’s dream will come true at commencement May 14, when she’ll deliver a speech representing the Class of 2011. She was selected by a committee of faculty, students and staff.

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SNRI Scientist Wins Fulbright Fellowship

Andrea Joyce, an assistant research scientist with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) at the University of California, Merced, was recently awarded a Fulbright fellowship to study beneficial insects in El Salvador.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

Joyce’s research includes the study of parasitoid wasps, which are used as an alternative to insecticides to reduce populations of pest insects on agricultural crops. She will work with colleagues in El Salvador on a collection of beneficial insects of agriculturally important crops, including corn, rice, sorghum and sugarcane.

“I’m truly honored to have received this prestigious fellowship,” Joyce said. “This will allow me to continue research that is very important to me and to our society as a whole, while also giving me an extraordinary opportunity to work with a distinguished group of international scientists.”