UC Merced receives a $3 million donation from the Gates Foundation. What’s it for?
UC Merced recently received a $3 million grant from the Gates Foundation, the university announced Wednesday.
The Gates Foundation is one of the world’s largest private charitable foundations, which was established in 2000 by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his former wife, Melinda French Gates.
The grant is designed to help UC Merced in its efforts to expand educational pathways and improve college and career outcomes for high school students across the Central Valley, UC Merced said in an article on its website.
The funding is part of the Gates Foundation’s Pathways initiative, and is designed “To support the San Joaquin Valley in advancing pathways that include high-quality accelerated and structured course sequences, advising, career-connected learning, and experiences that build a sense of belonging and purpose,” according to the Gates Foundation website.
The initiative places special focus on students from underserved communities, according to the article.
One of the project’s key goals is expanding dual enrollment, which allows high school students to get a head start on college by earning credit before they set foot on a college campus, according to the UC Merced article.
“We’re honored that the Gates Foundation has asked the Center for Educational Partnerships to support the targeted implementation of pathways, data infrastructures and partnerships,” said Orquidea Largo, UC Merced’s associate vice chancellor and chief outreach officer. “Collectively, UC Merced CEP, K-12 and our regional community college partners will braid efforts to elevate the impactful work already underway.”
Last December, UC Merced announced that it received a $38 million donation from MacKenzie Scott, an author and philanthropist who is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. That donation was the largest in the university’s history, ahead of the $21 million given to the school by Scott in 2021.
