Merrill College

Merrill College Administration Building
831-459-2144
https://merrill.ucsc.edu

Academic Programs

Academic Emphasis

Merrill College was founded in 1968 with a generous gift from Charles E. Merrill, Jr. Since our inception, Merrill College has focused on the challenges raised by global inequality and on solutions that can be imagined when people have the opportunity to learn via direct experience.

The college ethos is “Cultural Identities and Global Consciousness.” This pairing signals the college’s commitment to drawing on the funds of knowledge brought by individual college members to the community of scholars and a corresponding commitment to understanding these identities within a larger global context.

Orientation

All new first-year and transfer students who start fall quarter are required to enroll in one of two online orientation courses designed to prepare students for their studies at Merrill College and throughout their time at UC Santa Cruz. First-year students will enroll in MERR 1A, Merrill 1A: Introduction to University Life and Learning. Transfer students will enroll in KRSG 1T, Kresge 1T: Introduction to Research Universities and the Liberal Arts. MERR 1A and KRSG 1T integrate introductions to academic skills with the online Slug Orientation process.

MERR 1A Introduction to University Life and Learning (1 credit)

Offered online in summer quarter

KRSG 1T Introduction to Research Universities and the Liberal Arts (1 credit)

Offered online in summer quarter

Core Courses

MERR 1, Academic Literacy and Ethos: Reading Ourselves, Reading the World

MERR 1, also known as “Core,” introduces students to analytical reading and critical thinking at the university level. Core offers students a foundation for intellectual exploration and personal development as members of an academic community. It teaches reading and thinking processes essential to success at the university, and “habits of mind” that demystify academic work and promote independent, self-reflective, and collaborative participation in campus culture. It focuses on Analysis, Critical thinking, Metacognition, Engagement with others across difference, and Self-efficacy (“ACMES,” for short) and assigns carefully chosen readings designed to teach these concepts.

Core emphasizes skills central to intellectual life at the university, including critical reading, analytical writing, oral presentation of ideas, and reflective consideration of how these ideas and methods apply in other settings. Students read a range of texts specific to Merrill’s intellectual traditions. These texts focus on historical or political flashpoints, particularly those illuminating social, cultural, and economic change on a global scale. Together, the readings enable students to learn about how individuals and groups grapple with critical issues of nationalism, globalization, war, economic underdevelopment, social justice, and questions of identity. The course encourages students to examine critically their own underlying assumptions and subject positions. By closely examining these readings in discussion with others, students develop strategies for effectively engaging different kinds of texts, formulate their own analyses in relation to these readings, and share their ideas in course projects and seminar discussions.

All students admitted as frosh are required to complete the core course. Students admitted as transfer students with sophomore standing (45 or more credits in transfer) are exempt from the core course requirement.

College Advising

Contact Information:
merrilladvising@ucsc.edu
Phone: 831-459-2144
Merrill College Administration Building

Merrill College advisors help students interpret academic policies and procedures and clarify educational goals. They provide support to students to ensure their academic success and progress toward their degree throughout their time at UC Santa Cruz. Advisors help students make informed decisions, develop resiliency, and develop the ability to take ownership of their academic choices. Advisors also connect students to resources that will enrich their academic experiences.

Other Academic Programs

Merrill College offers several funding opportunities for experiential education. These include the Merrill Undergraduate Research Mentorships, which provide students with paid research internships and prepare advanced undergraduates to pursue graduate studies. These internships provide invaluable research experience and personal and professional development for Merrill students. The Sandra Frausto Education Abroad Scholarship provides a modest scholarship to one qualified undergraduate annually to study in Latin America. Finally, eligible students may apply for Merrill Special Projects Funds and campus-backed research funds.

The college also sponsors a variety of two-, three-, and five-credit courses. A key characteristic of Merrill’s academic program from its founding has been the importance of experiencing the world, not just studying it. Thus Merrill’s academic programming focuses especially on theory-backed experiential learning. Merrill offers a field study practicum that teaches methods of responsible participant observation and helps students arrange internships in local agencies and organizations. An education-focused experiential learning course, Classroom Connection, addresses current issues in educational theory and arranges for students to volunteer in local public schools.

In keeping with Merrill’s spirit of community-mindedness, we offer a Careers in Public Service course that features Merrill alumni as weekly speakers. Several other courses also help prepare students for their professional lives: Pathways to Graduate School serves junior and senior Latinx and/or Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) students unfamiliar with graduate school and its application process, and equips students with strategies to address barriers in order to submit successful graduate school applications. Also, a series of leadership courses is open to students involved in any of UC Santa Cruz’s many registered student organizations. This series teaches principles of critical engagement, collaboration, and organizational leadership for social change.

Continuing the college’s long history of involvement with Africa studies, Merrill has offered the alumnus-led Focus on Africa course which has involved a remote partnership with university students in Kenya.

College Scholars Program

Merrill College participates in the UC Santa Cruz College Scholars Program (CSP), a stimulating home for highly motivated students to have community with like-minded peers during their first and second years as they explore research at a research university. The program recruits and supports a diverse cohort of college scholars across all five academic divisions and all 10 colleges who show potential to cultivate academic and non-academic strengths in a learning community. Between 20 and 25 students are housed in close proximity in each college and together participate in an enriched program of study designed to prepare them to take advantage of opportunities for undergraduate research at the upper division. Across four quarters, students have access to supplementary activities, special courses, small seminars, and a faculty research colloquium to explore what questions drive researchers and what forms research can take. To facilitate participation in these program requirements, CSP students receive priority enrollment during their time in the program.