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Wednesday, Jul. 28, 2010

UC Merced Connect: Officer makes mark on campus

George Gongora's path to becoming an officer in the UC Merced Police Department has taken him all over the San Joaquin Valley.

It started when the Los Banos native was a teenager in the Police Explorers program with the Los Banos Police Department and the Merced County Sheriff's Department.

"We did ride-alongs, performed community service and attended regular meetings where officers came in to teach about law enforcement topics," he said. "Something in all of that really appealed to me. I liked helping people."

Gongora attended Merced College and California State University, Stanislaus, and now holds degrees in criminal justice and political science as well as a master's degree in public administration. He served in the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, then joined the force at UC Merced in 2007.

In May, Gongora was named UC Merced's Officer of the Year. He's one of two bicycle officers in the department, which he says helps him better serve the campus community.

"On the bike, I'm accessible to everybody," Gongora said. "We don't have that barrier of the car or the window; people feel free to come up and ask questions. People still do that in the car, but it's easier while I'm on the bike."

Book drive to benefit Planada

The El Centro community center in Planada has about half a bookcase of educational and reading books, including an Encyclopedia Britannica from 1985. These books represent the town's only public library.

The UC Merced Center of Excellence for the Study of Health Disparities in Rural and Ethnic Underserved Populations is holding a book drive to benefit the community center. The group is looking for children's books, educational books on a variety of subjects, novels, how-to books and books in Spanish.

The Center of Excellence was created in September 2009 by a grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Its purpose is to study and address health disparities and rural and ethnic underserved populations in the San Joaquin Valley.

To donate books, contact Trevor Hirst at thirst@ucmerced.edu.

Opera-related art on display

A pair of unique art exhibits will be on display in UC Merced's Kolligian Library through August and into September.

UC Merced's Artist in Residence, Dipu Gupta, is displaying a series of photographs of sets he's designed for opera and theater companies. The photos will be on display through Sept. 15.

Also on display at the library, through Sept. 30, are costumes designed by UC Merced professor Dunya Ramicova for Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms.

UC Merced Connect is a collection of news items written by the university's Office of Communications. To contact the communications team, e-mail communications@ucmerced.edu.