UC Merced Student Magician Visits China to Help Earthquake Orphans

When a deadly earthquake shook the Sichuan province of his native China in May 2008, John Li watched from Los Angeles and immediately made a connection. He knew his passion for performing magic could offer relief and hope to suffering people, especially orphaned children.

It took a few years, but Li, now a junior at UC Merced, has combined his talent for magic, his academic achievements and his personal drive. Li won a $10,000 grant to help make his dream — establishing a nonprofit named Magic4Hope — a reality.

Li will travel to China this summer as a Strauss Foundation Public Service Scholar to perform for orphaned children and document his efforts on film. He hopes to boost the children’s spirits, and with the documentary he aims to bring greater awareness to their continued challenges.

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UC Merced's "Our Digital Life" Debuts on UCTV's YouTube Channel

A three-part video series highlighting UC Merced's faculty and cutting-edge research has debuted online.

"Our Digital Life" reveals how UC Merced is an innovator in exploring how digital technology informs, interacts with and influences our lives.

The series features archaeologists Maurizio Forte and Mark Aldenderfer, historian Ruth Mostern, cognitive scientist Teenie Matlock, computer scientist Marcelo Kallmann and engineer Lilian Dávila. The first episode is available now at uctv.tv/digital-life. The second and third installments will go online June 22 and 29, respectively.

The series is part of YouTube's push to create a new platform of original video content that will rival television programming. As part of this initiative, YouTube invited University of California Television (UCTV) to participate. The new channel, UCTV Prime, is the first university-run channel in the United States to be included among YouTube’s production partnerships, which include other highly recognizable brands like The Wall Street Journal, Madonna and TED.

UC Merced Doctoral Student Researches Area History, Pursues New Career

An academic focus on the Central Valley region’s historically African-American communities brought Michael Eissinger to UC Merced.

He decided the UC’s newest campus was the best place to pursue his doctorate in world cultures. The university was geographically convenient for Eissinger, who lives in Fresno, but the main draw was something else.

“Really, the people I wanted to work with were at UC Merced,” he said.

Today, the onetime disc jockey, computer consultant and college instructor has found fresh success both in and out of the classroom. Eissinger recently won an Outstanding Teaching Assistant award and in May published a book about the Madera County community of Fairmead.

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Park Leaders Collaborate, Learn at UC Merced Institute

At a time when Californians are dismayed about closures of state parks, and protected lands around the globe are under increasing stress from reduced government resources, an innovative institute is arming parks leaders with new information and approaches to sustainability.

The National Parks Institute Executive Leadership Seminar is a collaboration between UC Merced, the National Park Service, the Great Valley Center, the Institute at the Golden Gate, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Stanford Graduate School of Business that aims to connect park and protected area leaders from around the world.

Milton Chen, an international authority on mass media and education, suggested that it’s time for leaders to use a range of tools that cross boundaries and learning styles.


"When we talk about a new frontier in environmental education, these new assessments will head straight toward the kinds of authentic learning that we know happens in environmental education and that happens in our national parks," Chen said, adding that he anticipates these standards to be adopted by a majority of states by 2014. "I expect to see a change in what education is about, where it happens and when it happens."


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