UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA MERCED


LEADING THE WAY:
NEXT GEN LEADERSHIP

Combining Management of Innovation,
Sustainability and Technology, UC Merced's
MIST program and the Yosemite Leadership
Program will equip tomorrow's leaders
with 21st-century solutions


cross-disciplinary MIST programs, including an undergraduate minor and major and the campus’s first professional degree program — the master’s in management — as well as a developing doctoral program, are the future of management...

LEADERSHIP OF THE FUTURE


New Perspectives in Management

UC Merced, a pioneering institution unconstrained by tradition, is creating a unique group of leadership programs focused on the management of innovation, sustainability and technology (MIST), all under the umbrella of the Ernest and Julio Gallo Management Program.


The cross-disciplinary MIST programs, including an undergraduate minor and major and the campus’s first professional degree program — the master’s in management — as well as a developing doctoral program, are the future of management. The MIST programs focus on the complexity of real-world problems and systems, the need to gather and analyze data and information in real time and the sustainability of coupled human-natural systems.

THE MIST PROGRAMS FOCUS ON THE COMPLEXITY OF REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS AND SYSTEMS, THE NEED TO GATHER AND ANALYZE DATA AND INFORMATION IN REAL TIME AND THE SUSTAINABILITY OF COUPLED HUMAN-NATURAL SYSTEMS

By combining the expertise of researchers in traditional management, cognitive and behavioral sciences, computational modeling, complex systems, management of natural resources, economics, philosophy and other areas, students who complete these programs will have a competitive set of practical, project-based management skills needed to address the complex challenges faced by professionals in for-profit and nonprofit enterprises and public organizations.


Bob and Marie Gallo and the Ernest and Julio Gallo Winery provided a generous gift before the UC Merced campus ever opened. Their intent was to spur development of a management school that would train the leaders of tomorrow right here in the San Joaquin Valley. Over the years, that gift has been enhanced by others who understand the importance of providing a first-class education in the heart of California and creating a pipeline of educated and well-trained professionals for every kind of industry and agency. The MIST programs are laying the foundations for what will be the campus’s fourth standalone school and its first named school.

Bob and Marie Gallo and the Ernest and Julio Gallo Winery's intent was to spur development of a management school that would train the leaders of tomorrow right here in the San Joaquin Valley.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: RUBEN LEMUS

Ruben Lemus grew up in Bakersfield, his family picking fruit in the Gallo fields. In sixth grade, when he had to write a report about someone he considered a hero, he didn’t look to a celebrity, athlete or politician — he wrote about the Gallos, because “they are celebrities to me.”


As an undergrad at UC Merced, Lemus saw the Gallo name all around him. Now, as a member of the first cohort of master’s in management students, he’s part of the Gallo Management Program. After the one-year course is over, he said, he’d like to work for the Gallos.

“They have had such a huge influence on my life and on the Central Valley,” Lemus said. “I hope to work for them someday.”

YOSEMITE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM


Transformative Experiential Learning

If you think a trip to a national park can’t be life-changing, talk to some of the students who completed the Yosemite Leadership Program, graduated from UC Merced and are now working for the National Park Service.


Take Jessica Rivas, for example. She had never been to a national park when she enrolled at UC Merced and joined YLP. But in her time as a student here, she wound up studying the wilderness as a psychological restorative, working in the park and at the Wilderness Center on campus, escorting and educating hundreds of fourth-graders to and through Yosemite Valley to have their own life-changing moments, and even becoming a key member of the park’s team that welcomed President Barack Obama and his family for a visit.

YLP is a rigorous program, but successful students who also graduate from UC Merced are eligible for direct hire by the NPS and can work in any park in the country — an opportunity Rivas and several have classmates jumped at.


YLP is just one aspect of UC Merced’s unique and special partnership with Yosemite National Park. The park is home to a research station where UC Merced students, faculty members and other affiliates work with the National Park Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and others to delve into research using the living laboratory of the Sierra Nevada.


And the park and the partnership have also given rise to opportunities for younger students through Adventure, Risk, Challenge, a program that targets at-risk middle-school students and offers them a 40-day park immersion complete with team and independence training, enhanced academics in math, science and English, a creative writing outlet and a pathway to college, the YLP program, and full-time employment.


To help build the future at UC Merced, explore opportunities to support students through scholarships and fellowships.

yosemite leadership program.
developing tomorrow's
environmental leaders today.