History & Heritage

Celebrate Persian New Year Today with Nowruz Lunch at Pavilion

March 20, 2025

Two people and Nowruz dishes for UC Merced lunch event

UC Merced Dining Services will celebrate the spring equinox and Persian New Year today with its second annual Nowruz event. Organized by Executive Chef Matt Perez in collaboration with Belinda Braunstein, coordinator of the English Language Institute, lunch will be served at the Pavilion dining...

A grant from the Henry Luce Foundation is already making an impact on the Merced area through humanities community-engaged scholarship.

Humanities Grad Students Drive Community Engagement, Public Understanding Through Research

Since his undergraduate days in Environmental Studies at Humboldt State University, Ivan Soto has aspired to produce research with a positive impact on the public — not just to benefit the...

Field Station Planned for UC Merced's Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve

At the northern tip of the UC Merced campus, an unremarkable aluminum gate leads into a field that extends, seemingly, into infinity. Perpendicular to the gate, the LeGrand Canal, drawn from Lake...

Anthropology Book Examines Early California and its Native Communities

A new book co-edited by Professor Kathleen Hull highlights nine studies exploring how Native people retained or reimagined their communities in California between 1769 and 1834. “Forging...

Ancient Genomes from the Andes Highlands Reveal Novel Adaptations

The genomes of ancient Andean settlers reveal a complex picture of human adaptation, including when they became able to digest starches and how evolutionary modifications allowed them to live at such...

Outstanding Student Awards Celebrate the Cream of the Crop

Verenize Arceo of Winton has represented UC Merced at the state Capitol, but her most recent achievement is closer to home. The history major is among the 20 graduates in the Class of 2018 honored...

Local Ghost Town’s Past on Display in New Collaborative Exhibit

Driving past Merced Falls on the way to Lake McClure doesn’t usually inspire thoughts of a bustling mini-metropolis with its own movie theater. But a new exhibit opening at the Merced County...

Preserving the Past: Library Digitizing a Century of Ag Records

An ongoing effort to collect, digitally preserve and share 100 years of historical records by the UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) has earned the UC Merced Library a more than $300,000 grant....

New Center, Conference Focus on Mesoamerican Studies

Topics ranging from ethnobotany, public health and feminism to agriculture, urban growth and social movements are among the highlights of the Mesoamerican Studies Center’s upcoming conference...

Interdisciplinary Collaborations Broaden Archaeology Research

Archaeologists have been asking where high-elevation populations came from for decades; how they are going about answering the question, however, is new. “Fifty years ago, I would have...

Research