Introduction: Why a New Research University at Merced? Karen Merritt
In February 1989, the University of California (UC) Regents authorized President David P. Gardner to plan up to three new campuses; the first of the three would be located in the San Joaquin Valley, a rapidly growing area of the state with the largest population fifty miles or more from a UC cam- pus. The campus was scheduled to open in 1998. Instead, UC Merced, the tenth UC campus, opened for instruction in September 2005, with 706 freshmen, 132 transfer students, and 37 graduate students, 13 of whom had begun study at...