UFC Lunch: UC Merced Blum Center for Developing Economies

University Friends Circle (UFC) meets from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 3 at the Branding Iron Restaurant, 640 W. 16th St., Merced.

Professor Steve Roussos, executive director for the UC Merced Blum Center for Developing Economies, will share the center’s current work. UC Merced students will present their research.

Launched in July 2013, the Blum Center is part of a multi-campus UC initiative to advance research and education to alleviate the burdens of poverty in the short term and to end world poverty. UC Merced’s branch focuses on its immediate region, the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada.

The cost is $20 for members and $25 for guests. For information on joining the UFC or to RSVP, email friendscircle.ucmerced.edu.

UFC encourages people from UC Merced and the surrounding communities to join the organization. Its mission is to inspire and maintain strong relationships between the UC Merced community and the communities of the San Joaquin Valley through activities that promote social and intellectual interaction, programs of service, and fundraising initiatives that support UC Merced scholarships.