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Dr. Whitney Pirtle Receives the Association of Black Sociologists 2020 A. Wade Smith Award for Teaching, Mentorship, and Service

October 20, 2020
The A. Wade Smith Award for Teaching, Mentorship, and Service was established in 1998. According to the association, named in honor of A. Wade Smith, Ph.D., a tireless advocate for racial justice, the award recognizes an ABS member for outstanding teaching, mentoring, and service. The A. Wade Smith...

Dr. Ben Leffel Uses Real-Time Big Data Analytics for Environmental Sociology Class

October 19, 2020
Altura Collaborates with UC Merced for Environmental Sociology Course.   Altura is excited to announce our support of what might be the first ever environmental studies class using real-time data analytics as a core element of the curriculum. The course, Environmental Sociology, is...

Professor Charlie Eaton Weighs in on the Final Endowment Tax Rules

October 6, 2020
Education Dive interviews Professor Charlie Eaton on the final endowment tax rules and how they tailor the policy for colleges. The IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued final rules for how they will implement the so-called endowment tax on private universities that the 2017 Tax...

Edward Flores and Ana Padilla Featured in the New York Times

August 5, 2020
For months, as the coronavirus has found its way into more communities across the nation, experts have sounded the alarm: The pandemic will not hurt everyone equally. In California, that’s meant predominantly Latino communities far away from the coasts — where lower-wage, often...

Graduate Student Maria D. Duenas Wins 1st Place in Alpha Kappa Delta's 2020 Graduate Student Paper Competition

August 3, 2020
We are excited to announce that graduate student Maria D. Duenas won first place for Alpha Kappa Delta's 2020 Graduate Student Paper Competition for her second year paper titled, "Three Discursive Messages: Racial and Ethnic Socialization in Middle-Class Latinx Families". This paper...

Professor Whitney Pirtle Discusses Why COVID-19 Is Disproportionately Affecting People of Color

July 29, 2020
Earlier this week, the New York Times published an analysis of national data that found that Black and Latinx Americans are three times as likely to catch COVID-19 compared to whites. To discuss the implications of those findings, and what it means for the battle against the virus here in...

Low-Wage Work Is Linked to Spread of COVID-19, Study Finds

July 21, 2020
California counties with high numbers of low-wage workers are seeing higher incidence of COVID-19, suggesting a link between so-called “worker distress” and spread of the virus, according to a new study by UC Merced’s Community and Labor Center. While efforts to contain COVID-19 have centered on...

Professor Whitney Pirtle Talks to The New York Times About The Debate Over Identity and Race

July 16, 2020
Hundreds of news organizations over the past month have changed their style to Black in reference to the race of people, including The Associated Press, long considered an influential arbiter of journalism style. Far more than a typographical change, the move is part of a generations-old struggle...

Three Awarded UC Pre-Professoriate Fellowships

July 8, 2020
UC Merced graduate students Anabel Castillo, Veronica Lerma and Sammy Villa are recipients of the University of California’s inaugural President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship (PPPF). The UC Office of the President launched the PPPF as part of its UC-Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity...

Professor Laura Hamilton Weighs In On The Challenges Of Returning To In-person Teaching

July 6, 2020
Professor Laura Hamilton weighs in with the San Francisco Chronicle on the challenges of returning to in-person teaching, including age of professors, students' willingness to wear masks and the precarious balance of protecting oneself and avoiding conflict. Read the article here.

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