At a time when some university campuses are slowing their recruitment efforts, the University of California, Merced campus is stepping up their efforts at community colleges across the state.
Frank Ramirez, southern region recruitment and outreach coordinator for UC Merced, said the young university is doing well despite hard economic times.
“Our campus opened its doors in 2005, and we just had our first graduating class last year,” he said. “While it’s true that the UC Regents have raised fees, most of our money doesn’t come from the Regents; it comes from the research that we do on our own campus.”
On Feb. 18, Ramirez met with students in the executive board room to educate them on taking part in their STEM program which includes science, technology, engineering and math programs.
Approximately 35 faculty and students attended the meeting and several questions were asked regarding everything from transferability of courses to whether or not a course taken at another university would transfer to Merced.
“That would depend heavily on the nature of the course taken and it would have to be researched and then approved by faculty at Merced,” said Ramirez. “Basically it comes down to whether or not our faculty believe that you received the same instruction at the other university as you would at ours for the same course.”
Denise Satherton, Bakersfield resident, said she heard about the meeting and has been reconsidering going back to school.
“I’m just thinking that maybe it’s time for me to change what I’m doing in my life,” she said. “I heard about this meeting from a friend of mine who’s a student here at BC, and I’ve just decided that maybe I’m not too old to go back to school after all.”
Anyone interested in attending UC Merced, or is interested in the STEM program may contact UC Merced at www.ucmerced.edu, or the BC Transfer Center in the Student Services building.