Talk:University of California, Merced/Archive 2

Course structure

Semester

The article mentions that UC Merced is on the semester system.

How long is the academic term?
- 15 weeks, plus a preliminary week, plus Spring Break (if applicable), plus finals week, according to the 2005-2006 Academic Calendar
What happens during the first week of the semester, before instruction begins? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
How long is the "dead week" between the academic term and finals week?
- 1 day, according to the 2005-2006 Academic Calendar
How long is finals week?
- 1 week, according to the 2005-2006 Academic Calendar
Is there a summer session? Yes. If so, how long is it, and are many courses offered during the summer? The usual, and it varies every year.

Course load

The 2005-2006 catalog's has several sample 4-year "Plans of Study".

None of the sample "Plans of Study" require more than 16 units in any semester.
All of the sample "Plans of Study" require at least 120 units. This is a graduation requirement. Many of these units can be earned via 4s and 5s on Advanced Placement tests, or via transfer credit.
All of the sample "Plans of Study" are 8 semesters long.
Most sample semesters in the "Plans of Study" have 4 3- or 4-unit classes, and sometimes a 1-unit seminar or "service learning" class.
Most sample "Plans of Study" have either a 4-unit senior thesis or several units of "service learning" classes.

Class size

What are typical class sizes? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.

Are many courses taught in a "large lecture, small section" format? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
Does UC Merced use graduate student teaching assistants? Yes. What is their role? The usual.
Can students choose their sections based on who is teaching the section? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.

Impacted majors?

Are there any "impacted majors"? No.

Do any majors require a competitive application process, even after the student has been admitted to the university? No.
Does UC Merced have enough history yet to estimate how its drop-out rate compares to other UC campuses, or to CSU Fresno and CSU Stanislaus? Yes.....

Cross-registration

Do many students take courses at Merced College or CSU Stanislaus? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.

Grading methods

How are courses graded? Of course, these grading factors vary from course to course, but are there any general statements that can accurately be made?

What weight is given to daily attendance? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
What weight is given to frequent homework or quizzes? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
What weight is given to large projects or papers? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
What weight is given to mid-terms? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
What weight is given to finals? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
Are courses graded on a letter basis? With plusses and minuses? Do many students receive pass/fail, pass/no record, or essay grades?
- Most grades are ABCDF; ABCD have plusses and minuses. GPAs are calculated using ABCDF grades; the plusses and minuses count toward the GPA. As and A-plusses are both worth 4.0 . Reference: pages 39-40 of the 2005-2006 catalog
Are many courses graded on a curve? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
Are many courses graded using absolute numerical cut-offs? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
Are problem sets and exams mostly true/false, multiple choice, or free-response? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.
Is much partial credit given during the grading process? There are no general statements that can be accurately made.

Article research

These are all excellent questions, but are you going to do the research? I can do it, but if you are doing it, then I won't have to. Rayana fazli 00:28, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Rayana,

Thank you for the compliment. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to find answers to most of the questions. I did read the on-line catalog, and I sometimes see articles in the on-line editions of the Sun-Star and the Modesto Bee, but most of these questions are not answered in these sources. Any research you can do would be great, but I do not expect any one person to do most of the research. I hope that most of the questions will be answered eventually.

-- Jasper 03:04, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

To whoever's been answering these odd and extremely banal questions, thanks. I hope whoever wanted to know about UCM at this level of minutia appreciates it, wherever they are. Amerique^dialectics 15:39, 4 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Course Evaluations

Does UC Merced systematically collect student feedback on:

The quality of classes? Yes.
Each professor's teaching? Yes.
Each teaching assistant's teaching? Yes.
The amount of work required to do well in each class? No.

If such course evaluations are performed, what are the results used for?

Internal feedback to improve the teaching methods of faculty? Yes.
Internal feedback to improve the teaching methods of teaching assistants? Yes.
Internal feedback to improve the design of courses and majors? Yes.
Input to tenure and other promotion decisions? Yes.
Preparation of an on-line or published course evaluation guide? No.

Several universities have such programs. MIT's Course Evaluation Guide is a notable example.

Intro

I deleted this sentence because there are no referneces to back it up. It does not sound of NPOV. I've never heard about UCM being built to raise the population. It isn't even a logical statement.

UC Merced was constructed to increase the population of Merced.

If the person can show where the information came from and that it is valid, then it should be put back on the wiki page. Rayana fazli 20:58, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well I talked to another person about this sentence and they said it was implied that a university is built to raise the population. Even so, since it is implied with any univeristy, there is no need to put the sentence in. Rayana fazli 15:22, 5 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I concur with your decision. I still don't understand why the hell they put the campus in Merced when it seems to me that Fresno would have been a far better choice. It's nearly as stupid as putting a university in Chico; the result is that the poor college kids get so bored they go crazy and start hazing each other to death. --Coolcaesar 04:18, 6 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There's already a CSU in Fresno. The infant UC Campus would pale in comparison to the infrastructure that CSU Fresno already has. UC Regents determined that the San Joaquin Valley had the greatest need for higher education and probably chose Merced because of it's proximity to Yosemite (possible research opportunities) and the massive parcels of land. In fact, UC Merced has 25,000 acres available to them (about 39 square miles). 20,000 of those acres are under preservation but I suspect that the UC will use it in the future. --Flarfu 09:19, 6 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Are you suggesting that Fresno, a city with a population of nearly 600,000 people, and a metropolitan area that includes over 1,000,000 simply couldn't support two major public universities? While you are correct in saying the Board of Regents decided to place a UC in the San Joaquin Valley because the region was under served by UC, you are incorrect in supposing that they placed it in Merced because of "it's close proximity to Yosemite...and the massive parcels of land." The two sites in Fresno and Madera that UC considered constructing the campus are just as close if not closer to the Sierra's and Yosemite National Park. They considered building the campus on a site near Table Mountain just east of freeway 41, and just north of the San Joaquin River. They also considered building the UC campus on a site called Academy in Fresno county, which is east of the city of Fresno and in the foothills. The Table Mountain site in Madera overlooked the Sierra Nevada mountain range and was bordered by the San Joaquin River, it was also closer to the city of Fresno than any of the sites. It was the best choice in terms of aesthetic appeal and proximity to a major urban center. It represents the most logical choice to place a campus. It was a complete and utter mistake to build a UC campus in Merced. The site's beautiful location and close proximity to the largest city in the San Joaquin Valley should have been the deciding factors in where to place the campus, and with those benchmarks the Table Mountain site in Madera County just north of Fresno should have been selected. Madera County government also had said they were going to buy the land from the owners and give it to UC and secure water resources for the land, however for some reason UC chose to ignore the County and awarded the campus to Merced, since their county government promised to donate the land for free and said that an educational trust would donate 30 or so million dollars to UC. So instead of taking in mind that long term success should necessarily outweigh short term gain, UC placed the campus in Merced, instead of ensuring the long term success of the campus by placing it on a site just north of Fresno. So if you are wondering why you have nothing to do and hate your experience in Merced, just think of that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.180.83.111 (talk) 04:51, 28 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

UC Merced is an environmentaly friendly school

Do you guys think we should start a new section talking about what makes UC Merced one of the greenest campuses in california?

I think that is a really great idea, because one of the key point's when you go to UC Merced is the environment and how we are the greenest campus! I think we should also include, the unique way they cool and heat the buildings, by pumping heated or cooled water through the wall's. Arian19 (talk) 03:33, 14 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Clubs Section

Lately, I've noticed the addition of several clubs (and their links) to the Clubs section of this article. Now, I'm an officer in three clubs at UCM, but I highly doubt that they, not to mention the other clubs in the section that aren't part of other nationally-recognized student organizations are notable for inclusion in this article. Should they be on the page? TheLetterM (talk) 06:20, 24 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In my opinion: No, unless they're (significant) branches of organizations significant enough to have articles about them, or they have some special influence in the context of the campus above and beyond that exerted by a "typical" club. External links to club web pages should avoided in the same way spam links are. --Dynaflow babble 02:07, 25 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I am the President of Secretary for Persian Student Association of UC Merced (PSAUCM), i think our club is significant enough to be put under the club list. I also think a bullet form of the uc merced, club list would be more professional, and elegant. Thanks Arian19 (talk) 03:27, 14 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New bobcat logo

Should it be listed on the UC Merced page, because they recently changed the bobcat logo?Arian19 (talk) 03:38, 14 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It shows that UCM is making a serious stride towards furthering their athletic program. I think a press release from the school or maybe from the Sun-Star (if they cover it, I never read it anymore) will be a sufficient source. TheLetterM (talk) 04:35, 18 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Greek Life

This section needed a update on the status of Greek life on campus. Hence, I have edited this section to reflect the currect status ie the name of each fraternity and sorority that is being established on campus. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.181.141.242 (talk) 09:42, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Removes KDX since they are no longer a group on campus. Added a category for Professional Fraternities.

Updated the Greek life section and included the FSC as the sole governing body for the social greek orgs —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.242.48.146 (talk) 09:07, 23 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Michelle Obama Coverage

So Michelle Obama will be gracing UC Merced with her presence, come commencement day. Obviously this is a very momentous and noteworthy achievement for this school. How should we go about giving it coverage on Wikipedia, if it is so deserved? Probably a mention in the history section will do for now. TheLetterM (talk) 19:33, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That's only a week off now; we'll have a better sense of its larger importance when we see how much attention it gets in the state and national news media. Certainly the local press & tv (Merced, Fresno, Modesto) are giving the event quite a bit of advance notice. And they're setting up huge high-def tv screens in downtown Merced for all the people who are unable to get tickets for the commencement. Cgingold (talk) 11:13, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

UC Merced Library

I work at the UC Merced Library. I've been asked to update some outdated stats and flesh out the Library section of this article. I haven't contributed to Wikipedia before, but the more I read, the more I realize that my participation would not only be bad form, but possibly against policy (at least as far as adding content, updating stats is probably ok).

This is the text I propose for the Library section, including 2 related articles for the references section (the first 2 paragraphs are untouched):

"The library was the first building to open on campus. During the Fall 2005 semester, while construction on the Classroom and Science/Engineering buildings was still going on, all academic courses were conducted in the library. Its official motto is "Not what other research libraries are, what they will be."

The Library building is named for Leo and Dottie Kolligian. The first floor of the library was dedicated by Ed and Jeanne Kashian. The McFadden-Willis Reading Room is located on the fourth floor and named in honor of the McFadden and Willis children by Christine McFadden. The Library also has a technology classroom dedicated by Doris Gonella in honor of her late husband Louis, The Gonella Discovery Room.

There is a café located on the first floor, and doors roll up in good weather providing an indoor/outdoor feel. Collaborative study rooms are located on the second, third, and fourth floors. In contrast to the lower floors of the library, the fourth floor, including the McFadden-Willis Reading Room, is designated for silent study.

The current holdings consist of about 31,000 online journals, 616,000 electronic books, and 85,000 print books, as well as access to the 34+ million items in the UC system. As part of the University of California, UC Merced Library shares resources with other campuses and has developed much of its electronic collection in conjunction with the California Digital Library (CDL).

In 2008, the Kolligian Library was awarded LEED Gold Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). In total, UC Merced has six Gold Certifications and one Silver Certification."

References

Library Complex Awarded "LEED Gold" Certification for Environmental Achievement: http://www.ucmerced.edu/news_articles/01142008_library_complex_awarded_leed.asp

To LEED or Not to LEED: A Review of Green Building Policies in Higher Education: http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=6230

Thoughts? Edits? --Tealtawhirl (talk) 22:57, 2 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Metropolitan city of Fresno"

I LOL'd. 76.95.118.88 (talk) 07:35, 2 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]