UC Merced Connect: Transfer students get on-campus support

Four weeks after her move last year to UC Merced, psychology major Valara Villanueva wasn’t sure if she fit in.

She felt academically prepared, but the transition from community college to a university environment was more challenging than she expected.

Transfer students have fewer years to get acclimated to the campus than first-year students, so Villanueva knew she needed to assimilate quickly if she was going to persist. Fortunately, she discovered UC Merced’s Degree Attainment for Returning and Transfer Scholars.

DARTS, which was established within the Calvin E. Bright Success Center in December 2013, was the first program of its kind to implement the UC-wide initiative of increasing admission and retention rates for returning and transfer students. The program gave Villanueva, a first-generation college student, more than valuable resources – it provided her with a sense of belonging.

“You get involved with others and they become your family,” said Villanueva, a single mother with two kids who attended Merced College’s Los Banos campus. “The program is tailored for us; we are all unique.”

Currently, the DARTS program has 19 fellows assisting more than 100 transfer or returning scholars with career development services, tutoring, workshops and more based on students’ needs. The students attend a weekly class on obtaining success in college and complete public service projects, which Villanueva credits for the Donald A. Strauss Public Service Scholarship she recently received.

About 6 percent of entering UC Merced undergraduates are transfer students, and most come from a California community college. With the University of California’s new Transfer Pathways, which will simplify course selection at the community college level for students who plan to transfer to a UC campus, the number of UC Merced transfer students is expected to increase significantly.

“It is imperative that programs like DARTS are available for students once they arrive on campus,” said Krystal Miguel, the program’s coordinator. “They are a special group of students, and we are here to help them make the transition as smooth as possible.”

Recent cognitive sciences graduate Lee Juarez was one of the first DARTS fellows to be hired for the program. Juarez transferred from San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton in fall 2013, and, like Villanueva, she initially had a tough time trying to navigate a new campus.

The firsthand experience Juarez received as a transfer student – along with the resources she found on campus – has enabled her to better help others like her.

“As a student, I got the support I needed,” Juarez said. “I was really happy to be part of building a new program for transferring and returning students.”

Mobile app challenge gets a boost

Earlier this month, AT&T presented its Investing in California award to UC Merced’s Mobile App Challenge. The communications company gave $5,000 to support the competition, which is held each spring as part of the Innovate to Grow event. The app challenge is organized by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society.

The Investing in California award is designed to provide resources and recognition to organizations and programs that are improving lives in their communities and throughout the state by advancing education, economic growth, new technologies and other essential community services.

State Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, was downtown at the new UC Merced Venture Lab for the award. He told app challenge leaders he supports the work UC Merced is doing to increase local education-attainment levels and diversify the local economy through technology.

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 5:30 PM with the headline "UC Merced Connect: Transfer students get on-campus support."