Museum exhibit looks at UC Merced’s journey
The newest exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum marks the first 10 years of UC Merced, but it really goes back further than that, according to exhibit researchers.
Several interns and volunteers connected to UC Merced helped put the display of photos, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia together with museum staff. Mike Steele, a UC Merced graduate who lives in Atwater, said he was surprised to learn the 10th campus in the University of California system was being planned before he was even born.
“We were doing research on stuff that went back to 1988,” the 25-year-old said.
The “UC Merced at 10: A Decade of Building, Developing and Contributing to Our Community” exhibit will open during a reception at 5 p.m. Thursday at the museum, on the corner of 21st and N streets in Merced.
In UC Merced’s first 10 years, the once-fledgling campus went from a few buildings near a cow pasture to about 1 million square feet of classrooms, research laboratories, offices and student housing. And, the university plans to double that in its next phase, the 2020 Project.
I don’t think people really know how much hard work, how much sweat and how much luck contributed to the school being here now.
Adam Brown
22, a history major at UC Merced and intern at the Merced County Courthouse MuseumThe exhibit highlights how community members lobbied UC system leaders to select Merced as the future home of the campus, which included a postcard campaign. The exhibit also covers the transition from founding Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey to Chancellor Steve Kang, and then to current Chancellor Dorothy Leland.
Adam Brown, 22, a history major and intern at the museum, said it’s evident in the display how much effort went into getting the university here. “I don’t think people really know how much hard work, how much sweat and how much luck contributed to the school being here now,” he said.
The exhibit also covers the involvement of former Govs. Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as first lady Michelle Obama’s 2009 commencement visit.
Sarah Lim, the museum’s executive director, said the university collaborated with the museum on the display. She said the exhibit has been a good opportunity to provide the interns with museum experience.
“I looked at this exhibit as an opportunity to continue to develop the positive relationship between UC Merced and the courthouse (museum),” she said.
Early supporter of the university Bob Carpenter and UC Merced students will also give a presentation during the opening night reception at 6 p.m. The exhibit will run through Feb. 28, and admission is free.
For more information, call the museum at 209-723-2401 or go to www.mercedmuseum.org.
Thaddeus Miller: 209-385-2453, @thaddeusmiller
UC MERCED TIMELINE
1988 UC regents authorize planning for additional campus or campuses based on projections of long-range enrollment demand.
May 1995 University of California regents overwhelmingly endorse locating a 10th campus at Lake Yosemite in Merced County.
July 1996 Merced officials and UC representatives meet in Merced to sign a document giving the university a 15-year option on 2,550 acres of rangeland near Lake Yosemite for the new campus. The property is being carved out of the 7,000-acre Virginia Smith educational trust as a gift to UC.
October 1996 UC picks the Merced College campus for a first-of-its-kind UC satellite center at a community college. The new office will serve as a base for UC information officers, counselors and staff members planning the new UC Merced campus.
July 1997 UC regents approve a special committee to oversee issues regarding development of the campus.
December 1997 UC officials announce that University of California, Merced, is the official name of the 10th University of California campus.
April 1998 Carol Tomlinson-Keasey is named senior associate for UC Merced, giving her the distinction of being the campus’s first official hired hand. Tomlinson-Keasey will serve as the academic leader of campus development and oversee the addition of new educational services in the San Joaquin Valley, including expansion of UC extension classes.
November 1998 UC Merced opens an office at the Olivepark complex at 1170 W. Olive in Merced. The office will serve as the hub for UC Merced planning.
March 1999 UC Merced joins with Merced College and California State University, Stanislaus, in establishing the Tri-College Center at Merced College. Hal Favier, a Merced resident, and six others make history enrolling in an agricultural class, the first class offered by UC Merced. The class meets in the Tri-College Center.
1999 State voters approve Proposition 1A, a general obligation bond measure, which includes $55 million in initial capital funding for the construction of UC Merced.
July 1999 Carol Tomlinson-Keasey is appointed the first chancellor.
October 1999 Carol Tomlinson-Keasey moves the chancellor’s office to Merced.
May 2000 Carol Tomlinson-Keasey announces the selection of the school’s mascot as the Golden Bobcats. The name is selected in a contest that solicited name suggestions from schoolchildren. Ten-year-old Lisa Lopez of Delhi, a fifth-grader at Livingston Middle School, wins the contest and with it a full-ride scholarship to UC Merced.
June 2004 UC Merced opens the first of its three planned field stations in the Sierra Nevada. The Yosemite Field Station, a roughly 1,400-square-foot station, is expected to open in early August.
November 2004 UC Merced starts accepting applications for fall 2005 admission.
February 2005 Prospective freshmen and transfer applicants for the fall semester at UC Merced number 8,883.
March 2005 Rita Spaur, interim chief at Davis, accepts an offer to become UC Merced’s first police chief.
April 2005 First “Bobcat Day” brings hundreds of prospective students and their parents to get a glimpse of the first UC campus to open in 40 years.
September 2005 About 585 of the 1,000 students who make up UC Merced’s inaugural class move into campus housing.
September 2005 UC Merced officially opens on Labor Day.
December 2005 UC Merced’s Bobcat Bookstore holds its grand opening.
May 2006 UC Merced celebrates its first three graduates.
August 2006 Carol Tomlinson-Keasey resigns as chancellor and takes a sabbatical to work on a book chronicling the opening of UC Merced.
September 2006 Roderic Park is appointed as interim chancellor of UC Merced.
November 2006 UC Merced’s gymnasium, the Joseph Edward Gallo Recreation and Wellness Center, opens for use and the university announces that club teams in baseball, soccer and aquatics (swimming and water polo) have been recognized and will start competing in spring.
January 2007 Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang is unanimously appointed by the University of California regents as UC Merced’s newest chancellor. He begins his new position in March.
May 2007 The Federal Highway Administration approves a four-lane expressway that will connect Highway 99 to the campus.
May 2007 UC Merced’s second commencement celebrates 75 graduates.
May 2008 UC Merced officials receive a thumbs-up from the Board of Regents to continue their ongoing plans to establish a medical school.
May 2009 First lady Michelle Obama delivers the commencement keynote address when more than 500 Bobcats graduate as the school’s inaugural class.
May 2010 UC Merced is designated a Hispanic-serving institution under the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Education.
February 2011 UC Merced unveils its cutting-edge stem cell research facility, the Stem Cell Instrumentation Foundry.
June 2011 Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang resigns as chancellor.
July 2011 Dorothy Leland begins her position as the third chancellor of UC Merced.
July 2011 UC Merced announces the hiring of its first head coaches as an NAIA-sanctioned institution.
April 2012 UC Merced creates a mobile phone app, the UC Merced Admissions App, which offers information about the university.
May 2013 UC Merced holds two graduation ceremonies as a result of having the largest class in its history.
November 2013 UC Merced launches a semi-annual magazine meant to educate the greater Central Valley about the university’s level of research.
December 2014 UC Merced holds a “topping” ceremony of the $54 million Classroom and Office Building 2, what will be a 77,000-square-foot structure featuring the newest in educational technology, scheduled to open in April 2016. The building is the final structure to be built during UC Merced’s first phase of development.
This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Museum exhibit looks at UC Merced’s journey."