Here’s how UC Merced plans to spend funds from record-breaking MacKenzie Scott gift
Having broken fundraising records this year after receiving the largest ever philanthropic gift to UC Merced by billionaire MacKenzie Scott, university officials recently announced plans for spending the generous donation.
UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz during his first in-person State of the University address last week outlined initial plans for investing the historic $20 million contribution. He also described additional burgeoning plans for the campus, as well as strides made over the last year.
“We are investing in the future of the nation’s most productive agricultural industry. We are investing in the future of work. We are investing in the future of our people. And we are investing in our students — the future leaders of our world,” Muñoz said at the address, according to a UC Merced news release.
The $20 million gift will be leveraged to create three new $1 million endowed professorships, Muñoz said. Funds will be matched by the UC Office of the President to prioritize scholarships that advance diversity, equity and justice.
Scott’s donation will also be allocated toward supporting the university library’s project to create an archive of the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada, according to the release. The UC Merced Library collects documents relaying the cultural and environmental history of these regions, as well as the development and impact of human settlement.
Plus, matching funds from the UC Merced Foundation will be utilized to build a demonstration and engagement pavilion at the site of the former Virginia Smith Trust barn adjacent to campus, the release said.
Scott in June announced that UC Merced was one of 30 colleges slated to benefit from her latest philanthropic donations. The $20 million given to UC Merced was part of a $2.73 billion total contribution to colleges, nonprofits and organizations that promote missions of racial equity and community engagement.
Universities benefiting from Scott’s philanthropy were chosen because they do not typically see major donations. Recipients spanned from small community colleges to larger public universities.
“Higher education is a proven pathway to opportunity, so we looked for 2- and 4-year institutions successfully educating students who come from communities that have been chronically underserved,” Scott wrote in a blog post at the time.
Scott is an author, philanthropist and one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. The donation by Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett, makes UC Merced the first of the University of California campuses to receive a gift from the couple. She is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
More on UC Merced funding plans
Muñoz during his address acknowledged state and federal legislators for supporting UC Merced’s research programs. The chancellor described initiatives that funding opportunities have allowed for the university.
On-campus public art projects are getting $1 million in funding, according to the release. Muñoz also pledged $1 million to the deans of UC Merced’s three schools and the director of the Gallo Management Program.
A further $1 million each is allocated to the academic senate, staff assembly and student organizations to create programs in alignment with the spirit of being transformative — a vision outlined in the university’s first long-term strategic plan.
The plan, made public on Friday, lays out UC Merced’s goals through 2031.
One focus highlighted by Muñoz is UC Merced’s mission to be recognized as an R1 university in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. “This will require a sustained and disciplined focus on enhancing our research faculty, facilities and funding,” he said in the release.
UC Merced is currently ranked an R2 research university, designating the college as having high research activity as opposed to the R1’s designation of very high research activity. UC Merced is the youngest college to reach the R2 high research university achievement, according to the strategic plan.
The chancellor also announced a new research body during his address, titled the Center for Research, Equity, Anti-Racism and Transformative Engagement (CREATEs). The team is composed of an interdisciplinary group of scholars and community members committed to combatting social inequities, according to the release.
New state funding will be used to fund two agricultural research partnerships. The Fresno-Merced Future of Food Initiative will partner with Fresno State, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Central Valley Community Foundation. A new experimental farm will be constructed near campus, too.
A state appropriation will also be utilized to found the Center for Analytic Political Engagement and support the ongoing efforts of UC Merced’s Community and Labor Center.
Muñoz also underscored UC Merced’s research strengths in agriculture and fire science, new programs to help community college and high school students enroll at UC Merced and community events like a vaccination clinic cosponsored with Merced College, Mercy Medical Center and Merced County.
Other strides of progress are rising undergraduate applications, the first-year student class size, overall enrollment, fundraising, research grants and expenditures, Muñoz said during the address. The university’s rankings continue to improve, too, he said.
“The state of UC Merced is indeed exceptional,” Muñoz said. “And because of our shared vision, our shared resources and our shared efforts, our shared future is boundless.”
