UC Merced’s Director of Pre-Law Studies Mark Harris is taking on a new position to help address racism at Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD).
Officials for the school district created a new position for Harris as district liaison to provide independent recommendations to the district on investigations and racist incidents.
UC Merced has appointed Daniel T. Okoli, Ph.D., as vice chancellor and chief operating officer, overseeing Planning and Development, Facilities, the UC 
Merced Police Department and several other departments.
In announcing the appointment, Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz called Okoli “a deeply collaborative and widely experienced leader.”
In December, the Give to UC Merced 2021 fundraising initiative surpassed the targeted goal of $100,000, garnering a total of $227,569 to support programs and people throughout the university.
Give to UC Merced 2021 was the second year in a row that the initiative has been held over an entire month, having expanded from a single-day event. Nearly 24 percent of the donors were campus friends, 23 percent were staff and faculty, 17 percent were UC Merced alumni, 17 percent were parents and 19 percent were students, with several donors giving multiple gifts.
As part of the 2021-22 Governor’s California Comeback Plan, UC Merced students will get the opportunity to serve their community while receiving financial support for college through the new program #CaliforniaForAll College Fellowship.
UC Merced will delay the start of in-person instruction in light of the highly contagious omicron coronavirus variant sweeping the nation, but otherwise is moving forward with plans for on-site courses and carefully coordinated campus operations for spring semester.
Resident students are scheduled to start returning to campus Jan. 14. Instruction for spring semester is set to begin Jan. 18, but courses will be delivered remotely until Jan. 31 to give students, faculty and staff more time to be tested for coronavirus and take appropriate steps depending on results.
A generous gift from UC Merced alumnus Eric Chen, Ph.D., ’11, and his wife, Joanne Hsu, to establish a new scholarship is advancing the university’s efforts to encourage and support students pursuing medical studies and training in the Central Valley.
Scholarship funding — which includes contributions from the Chen Family Foundation and Chen’s employer, Megaforce International Corporation — will benefit promising UC Merced undergraduates enrolled in the campus’s Bachelor of Science to Medical Degree (BS to MD) program, which is scheduled to launch in Fall 2023.
As a way to help students reach their academic goals, UC Merced is inviting campus supporters to virtually come together and take part in the “Give to UC Merced” initiative.
For a second year, the traditional 24-hour period of giving held the Tuesday after Thanksgiving will be expanded through the whole month of December. The event will begin Tuesday, Nov. 30, and end Friday, Dec. 31.
As one of the most diverse institutions in the University of California system, UC Merced welcomes and supports all undocumented students.
On Tuesday, Nov. 9, the campus joined the national movement I Stand With Immigrants Initiative Day of Action to celebrate all immigrants who are part of the Bobcat community and worldwide.
UC Merced wants to make it easier for students at Central Valley community colleges to join the Bobcat community and transfer by using an accessible Web-based program. 
