Chancellor Stands Up for DACA

The inauguration of Donald Trump takes place Friday, Jan. 20, and the president-elect's campaign comments regarding immigrants have caused concern among the hundreds of undocumented students at UC Merced and those who support them.

Chancellor Dorothy Leland wrote an op-ed earlier this month, published in the Sacramento Bee, defending those students and urging Trump to protect DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — allowing them to continue pursuing higher education.

Meanwhile, UC Merced Professor Mark Aldenderfer has been in the spotlight for his research on the lives, rituals and adaptations of the earliest settlers of high-altitude areas. His work — including the harrowing efforts that make the research possible — was featured in the Jan. 4 season premiere of NOVA on PBS, entitled "Secrets of the Sky Tombs." Later that week, Aldenderfer's research showing that humans inhabited the Tibetan plateau thousands of years earlier than previously thought was covered by media outlets like Scientific American, the Wall Street Journal, Nature, the Smithsonian and others.

Other recent media highlights include: 

• a new op-ed in The Conversation from librarian Donald Barclay on the challenges facing libraries in the age of "fake news;"
• Professor Roger Bales' appearance in a Sacramento Bee article on the possibility of the Trump administration restricting access to climate data;
• student Jesus Valdez, who receved support from the College Track program, which is backed by recording artist will.i.am, featured in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education; and
• a pair of mentions for UC Merced in the Merced Sun-Star on the financial outlook of the region for 2017 and in an op-ed by Merced City Manager Steve Carrigan looking back on a strong year for the region.

For information on these stories, contact University Communications.