Dear UC Merced Fellows,
We've had an exciting start to the fall semester, with more than 9,000 students learning and thriving on our campus. Check out this video to see the annual Scholars Bridge Crossing tradition welcoming our newest Bobcats to our campus community.
I hope that you saw the recent announcement regarding "Boldly Forward: The Campaign for UC Merced." UC Merced is embarking on its first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign with a goal to raise $100 million by 2030. Included below are links to the news story, our campaign website, and the registration page for Illuminate, a kickoff celebration event on Saturday, October 22, for which you will soon receive invitations by mail.
I hope to also see many of you at the annual State of the University next week on Wednesday, September 28, where Chancellor Muñoz will speak to the current state of affairs of UC Merced as we look to the future of our campus (register here).
If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out to me anytime at [email protected] or 209-382-4142.
Warmest regards,
Stephanie Sia
Director, UC Merced Foundation Board
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Welcome: New Trustees Lisa Andrew, Dinesh Moorjani, and Brenda Pannell |
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Dr. Lisa Andrew has deep experience as both a non-profit and public school leader. Currently Lisa serves as the President & CEO of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation. A first-generation college student herself, Lisa is passionate about helping students from underserved backgrounds to aspire for higher education. She has held several positions in education, including teacher, literacy and technology coach, mentor teacher, principal, superintendent, and college professor. Lisa is highly regarded as an effective advocate for students of color challenged by poverty and has been invited to present on the topics of education reform, equity, leadership as well as curriculum and instruction, across California. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from San Francisco State University where her thesis focused on professional development practices that prepare and prompt administrators to eliminate the achievement gap through organizational system change. Lisa’s dedication to the field has been recognized by the Silicon Valley Business Journal as she was named a 2022 Woman on Influence, Business World Magazine named her the 2021 Best CEO-Nonprofit-USA, and she is the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) 2013 Valuing Diversity state award winner.
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Dinesh Moorjani is a serial tech founder, CEO, and investor. He is the Founding Partner of Time Zero Capital LP, while also pursuing his Engineering PhD on interdisciplinary decarbonization solutions at Stanford University.
Dinesh was the Founder and CEO of Hatch Labs Inc, where he co-founded numerous mobile technology companies from ground up, including Tinder (NASDAQ: MTCH). Dinesh started several other software businesses and served in executive and leadership roles at Samsung Electronics, IAC, and Comcast Ventures. He served as an independent board director at Alight (NYSE: ALIT), on the advisory boards of Fortune 500 companies including American Express and Assurant, and continues to serve as an advisor to Warburg Pincus where he was previously an executive-in-residence.
Dinesh is a faculty advisor and senior lecturer at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and serves on the HBS California Research Center Advisory Board. He supports disenfranchised youth and education through his non-profit work as a board director at the United Friends of the Children and the Organization for Social Media Safety. Dinesh earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and his MBA from Harvard.
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Brenda J. Pannell, Esq., resides in Sherman Oaks, California, and is a graduate of Merced High School, the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She has a successful law practice in Southern California, representing clients throughout the state in various civil litigation matters. Ms. Pannell is committed to Merced and created, sponsored, and organized an event for seniors in Merced (the "Seasoned Senior Luncheon”) for several years before the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to owning a small business in Merced, she supports local organizations, including the NAACP Chapter of Merced, Southeast Asian-American Professionals Association-Merced Chapter, Merced Lao Community Family, Inc., and the Atwater-Merced Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. In Southern California, she serves and supports Forever Friends (LA Probation Department), provides pro-bono legal services for the Disability Rights Legal Center), and serves as a board member for Zawadi Cultural Collective, a non-profit whose mission is to empower, encourage and inspire youth in underserved areas in the San Fernando Valley through culturally based programs and community initiatives.
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The White House announced on Sept. 2 a $65.1 million award — the largest federal grant ever awarded to the Central Valley — to the Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation (F3) Coalition as part of its "Build Back Better" initiative to boost economic recovery after the pandemic. The funding will help launch a state-of-the-art agricultural technology hub that will serve and connect farmers across the San Joaquin Valley to industry and spark a new, more advanced era in agriculture-based technology in an effort to boost productivity, create jobs and build capacity for regional sustainability.
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His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has been awarded the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance. A pre-recorded showing of the presentation on Monday, Sept. 26, will celebrate the 15th prize recipient. The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is a man of peace, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and one of the most recognizable faces of Buddhism. For decades, he has worked toward a free Tibet.
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UC Merced continues to build a national reputation for its academic distinction and research excellence. For three consecutive years, UC Merced has been ranked in the top 100 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. The 2023 list released Sept. 12 placed the campus at No. 97 overall among national universities, No. 42 for overall public universities and No. 15 in R2 universities.
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The state budget passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom promises tens of millions of dollars for UC Merced to build the next generation of world-class programs and facilities. The budget appropriates new funding for campus expansion, climate-related initiatives, the university's Community and Labor Center and a potential housing partnership.
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Mechanical engineering Professor Ashlie Martini has been awarded the Monya Lane and Robert Bryant Presidential Chair in Excellence in Engineering. She is one of two women to be appointed to endowed chairs in the School of Engineering this year. Lane and Bryant, retired engineers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, established the endowment in 2019. Martini will serve as the inaugural chair holder.
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College Track recently held a retreat at UC Merced that brought almost 200 staff members from all over the country to the site to "reflect, renew and rise together."College Track is a 25-year-old program that partners with college students from underserved communities. The nonprofit equips scholars confronting systemic barriers and provides a comprehensive, 10-year-long program that prepares them academically, financially, socially and emotionally for college and beyond.
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“Dr. Hratchian’s appointment is another signifier of our momentum in research excellence,” said Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz. “He will be an essential leader and contributor as we accelerate our drive toward R1 status.” Hratchian, who is from Michigan, joined the faculty in 2013 and most recently served as chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
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After a nationwide search, Rakesh Goel was selected as UC Merced’s next dean of the School of Engineering. Goel is a seasoned academic leader who currently serves as executive associate dean in the College of Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly).
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