Staffer Turns Her Passion into a Career

From a young age, Vernette Doty has been passionate about helping others.

From providing outreach to children and youth, assisting in efforts to reduce plastic waste and save/provide clean water, or supporting individuals who are homeless or hungry, she has always found an opportunity to make a difference through community service.

As associate director for Office of Student Life and Civic Leadership, Doty helps students, and often staff and faculty members, fulfill their desire to help others through volunteering on and off campus.

Before joining UC Merced in 2011, she worked at Washington State University, where she coordinated academic community-based learning for the Center for Civic Engagement. She worked with faculty members across disciplines to design, implement and record community-based learning opportunities to facilitate positive integrative learning for students, and form strong and reciprocal partnerships with community partners.

What does your current job entail?

In addition to supporting the most committed and creative professional and student staff in the Office of Student Life, I also facilitate opportunities for students to become civically engaged in Merced and surrounding communities. I work with instructors, student groups and individual students to coordinate meaningful community service experiences that are mutually beneficial.

What new initiatives/projects/plans are you looking forward to in the upcoming year?

I’m excited to see Merced County Project 10% grow and continue to affect eighth-grade students in Merced County. I am looking forward to working with the UC Merced Food Pantry as new staff members and departments are signing up to get involved. I am hopeful to acquire a vehicle to enable more students to participate in service opportunities throughout the county.

What are some of the most rewarding things about your job?

I have the best job on campus! I work with a great staff, our students are amazing and I love being engaged in the community. Perhaps the most rewarding thing is to see the students’ faces and enthusiasm after they have become engaged in the community and know that even as they have shared their time and skills, they have received so much more from the experience.

Tell us something about you that people on campus might not know.

I can speak Pig Latin really well. (Pig Latin is a pseudo-language which is widely known and used when someone wants to disguise something they are saying from non-Pig Latin speakers. Next time you see her, make sure you say “Ellohay,” and test her ability!)