UC Merced Connect: Scholarship opportunity for student volunteers offered

UC Merced students who are active in the community are encouraged to apply for the University Friends Circle Distinguished Volunteer Scholarship for the upcoming 2020-2021 academic year.

The endowed scholarship was started in 2011 by University Friends Circle (UFC), a group consisting of community leaders, business people and UC Merced staff and faculty. The scholarship is available to all continuing UC Merced students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The application process opened Feb. 1 and is available through the UC Merced Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships.

As part of the application, students must describe an active off-campus service project which demonstrates their ongoing commitment to serving others in the Merced community. Students must also share how they have demonstrated leadership qualities. Finalists for the scholarship will then conduct an in-person interview with a panel of UFC members.

Since its inception, 22 students have been awarded the scholarship, totaling around $40,000 in financial support. Past recipients have participated in programs such as Merced Youth Court Club, which aims to eliminate juvenile offenders, and the Merced County Project 10% which, in an effort to reduce gang violence, provides outreach to Merced County eighth grade classes and encourages the students to graduate high school.

“UFC is committed to enhancing strong relationships between UC Merced and communities in the Central Valley, and this scholarship ensures students who work to make a difference in their community are recognized and supported,” UFC President-elect and Scholarship Committee Co-chair Mike Cuchna said. “We look forward to meeting the newest cohort of students whose volunteering efforts and generosity have helped make them future leaders of this community.”

UC Merced alum takes helm at Lassen Community College

Trevor Albertson, who earned his doctorate in world cultures and history from UC Merced in 2009, has been appointed acting president/superintendent of Lassen Community College by its board of trustees.

Albertson began work at LCC in 2018 and served as dean of Instructional Services before former President/Superintendent Marlon Hall retired in December.

While at UC Merced, Albertson’s research focused on the political-diplomatic history of the 20th century United States. He was named a UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies. He earned a master’s degree in International Affairs from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a bachelor’s degree from Norwich University in Vermont.

A former Air Force intelligence officer, Albertson served as a congressional staffer, a deputy secretary of a cabinet department in California state government and a gubernatorial appointee. He was also an assistant professor and course director at the Department of Defense’s Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

In his new role, Albertson will serve on the LCC board as secretary.

UC Merced Connect is a collection of news items written by the campus’s Public Relations team. To contact the team, email PR@ucmerced.edu

This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 1:22 PM.