UC Mercd Magazine-Volume XVI, Issue 2

Longtime Friends >> The UFC

For 13 years, theUniversity Friends Circle has been raising funds and building local relationships to support the scholars of UCMerced.

The agriculture community has not been the only beneficiary of having a UC campus inMerced. Our students and faculty have raised the local profile of the arts and the humanities in ways ranging from making films about the region to hosting public lecture series to establishing the popular Shakespeare in the Park program. Our researchers seek to understand and better the lives of Valley residents by practicing community-based research focusing on crucial local issues such as public health, labor, and justice. The region stands to reap even greater benefits with UC Merced’s entrance into the realm of medical education. Toward the end of his keynote address back on that fall day in 2002, Robert Laughlin quoted from Oliver Wendell Holmes’ poem “The Chambered Nautilus,” UFC and its Endowed Scholarship began with a gift from then-Chancellor Steve Kang and his wife, Mia. Starting with that $10,000 donation, the scholarship fund has grown to more than $600,000, aiding more than 40 students along the way, according to current president Mike Cuchna. Along with its annual scholarship awards and programs to VXSSRUW VWXGHQWV GXULQJ WKHLU FDPSXV UHVLGHQF\ Ǻb VXFK DV WKH Student Emergency Fund, Food Pantry, and Guardian Scholars fund (for former foster youth) — the bustling community organization has built a network to spread the word about the university’s impact. “UFC has created meaningful relationships between the UC community and the Valley through activities that promote social and intellectual interaction,” said longtime UFC officer Ann Andersen. That includes monthly luncheons to hear from UC Merced researchers and their students. Governance chair Kathryn Hansen remembers the early days. “UC Merced was a very exciting prospect for Merced,” she recalled. “UFC has been the link to the campus that many of us in the community looked forward to.” The group “provided opportunities for the people in the community to tour campus facilities, hear about the latest research from professors, and just feel comfortable walking (continued from page 3)

UFC provides “Snacks for Scholars” on Scholars Lane.

Twenty years’ worth of swift seasons have rolled by since the founding of UC Merced, and one need only glimpse the campus to see its many stately mansions devoted to research, teaching, and student life. They tell the world we are here, we are real, we are serious about what we are doing, and we are not going anywhere. But the world will not measure UCMerced by its square footage. Anyone can build stately mansions given enoughmoney, time, and (legally permitted) land.What the local community and the world beyond will measure UC Merced by are the thoughts, ideas, and learning that comes out of its statelymansions. I am proud to have been part of the creation of UCMerced, and I believe this institution has measured up, and will continue to do so, because of the opportunities it creates and the good it brings into the world. Donald Barclay retired in 2022 as deputy university librarian after 20 years at UC Merced. He is the author of Disinformation: The Nature of Facts and Lies in the Post- Truth Era and Fake News, Propaganda and Plain Old Lies: How to Find Trustworthy Information in the Digital Age. around the beautiful campus,” Hansen said. “UFC, professors and staff have gotten involved in the community through programs and projects that range from clearing sheep dung for the first fundraiser at a sheep ranch in the countryside to hearing about the local real estate market at our monthly meetings.” ǿ7KH YLVLRQ RI WKH IRXQGHUV RIb8)&bZDV WR FUHDWH D PHFKDQLVP IRU fostering strong communication between Merced and other &HQWUDO 9DOOH\ FRPPXQLWLHV Ǻ WKH WRZQ ǺbDQG 8& 0HUFHG Ǻ WKH gown,” offered secretary/historian Gaye Riggs. “We recognized that the impact of this new research university would have a profound impact on the social, academic and political character of the community,” she said. “Merced had much to give the campus and the campus had much to give the community. What a grand opportunity to foster mutual respect of each for the other.” The group is open to everyone “with curiosity about the new knowledge being created at UC Merced and those who wish to impact students inmeaningful, personal ways,” said Riggs. Contact the Division of External Relations for membership information.

Build thee more stately mansions, Omy soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free. . . .

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