UC Merced Magazine | Volume XIX, Issue V

Watch Us Grow: New Buildings Going Up e groundbreaking of the Medical Education Building in May marked the beginning of a series of new buildings at UC Merced, the rst new structures since the Merced 2020 Project was completed. “ is new phase of construction is both another sign of our robust growth and a way to prepare for even more growth,” said Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz. “ ese buildings are readying UC Merced for more students, more faculty, more programs and more visitors, and will move this campus forward as a more welcoming place to learn, research, live and work.” e 203,000-square-foot building will host faculty and students from the SJV PRIME+ program, the Health Sciences Research Institute, and the

departments of Psychological Sciences and Public Health. It is scheduled for completion in fall 2026, a er groundbreaking this spring. On a shorter timeline is the Field Education and Research Center — opening this fall 2024. e center will be adjacent to the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve. e open-air pavilion will provide a shaded space for visitors to gather and learn about the vernal pools while also protecting the natural environment. Currently, about 55 percent of the reserve’s use is educational. Students from UC Merced, nearby state and community colleges and K-12 schools participate in hands-on learning experiences and eld research while visiting the reserve. e highly sustainable building — o the electric grid — will have solar panels to provide light, a rainwater capture system and three bathrooms with composting toilets. e university has also been allocated grant funding for the Promise

Housing project. Under the terms of the grant, UC Merced and Merced College would jointly build the 488-bed residence hall for community college and transfer students. e Promise Housing facility is intended to o er rooms on UC Merced's campus to income-quali ed community college students who have met the academic requirements of the Merced Promise transfer agreement between the schools. e housing development arose from conversations between Merced College President Chris Vitelli and Muñoz about addressing an acute housing shortage that particularly a ects low-income residents in the region. e Promise Housing project would o er students extremely a ordable housing while attending college and remove them from competition for market-rate housing in the region. Finally, planning has begun for a future classroom and o ce building to provide more instructional and faculty o ce space to accommodate projected enrollment growth.

Promise Housing will benefit transfer students.

A rendering of the new Field Education and Research Center, opening this fall, which will provide space for visitors and researchers to learn more about the endangered vernal pools environment.

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