Our Mission
For the past 12 years, ReCCES has been a strong advocate for community-academic research partnerships to extend the reach and impact of research beyond the university, solve problems to improve people’s lives, and advance the effectiveness of higher education. ReCCES has been the catalyst for numerous engagement efforts and has facilitated dozens of community engaged research projects in the region. ReCCES was instrumental in earning UC Merced the Carnegie Foundation’s Elective Community Engagement Classification as well as creating a new Community Research and Service minor to provide hands-on applied research training for undergraduate students.
ReCCES aims to support CES on campus by continuing to build an infrastructure for the practice. ReCCES offers faculty seed grants and graduate student awards to support community engaged scholarship, numerous opportunities for undergraduate students to actively participate in research, and regularly hosts events to bring the community and campus together to network and solve problems. We hope to increase recognition on campus of community engaged research and other public scholarship.
We Believe Community Makes Research Matter!
What We Do
The Resource Center for Community Engaged Scholarship (ReCCES) was established in 2009, in response to the Chancellor’s Task Force on Community-Engaged Scholarship (CES). Within our first year at UCM, we created nearly two dozen CES projects that engage UCM faculty, students, and a variety of community organizations. The primary goal of ReCCES is to link UC Merced to the local community and region by initiating new community-university research collaborations. We aim to do this by supporting graduate student research and contributing to the national dialogue on the importance of community engaged scholarship.
We provide:
- One-on-one or group consultation for your interests and ideas
- Matchmaking with faculty, community members and students to support your interests
- Access to advisers, training/reference materials, assistance with grant application and publication preparation
- Opportunities for social and professional networking events
Our Work
ReCCES Annual Report
Please see our Annual Report AY2013-2014 for a detailed description of our work!
Community Engaged Research Intern Presentation
This presentation was created by our intern Kiana Hugins to highlight the work she did with us at ReCCES. It provides basic information regarding our founding, methods, and current on-campus projects/affiliations.
Our Team
- Robin DeLugan, Co-Founder, Faculty Director of ReCCES, Associate Professor of Anthropology
- Stergios (Steve) Roussos, Co-Founder, Community Director of ReCCES, Project Scientist
- Tanya Golash-Boza, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California, Merced
- Katherine Steele Brokaw, Assistant Professor of English, Humanities and World Cultures, University of California, Merced
- Christopher Butler, Assistant Director, The Foster Family Center for Engineering Service Learning, University of California, Merced
- Vernette Dotty, Director, Community Engagement Center, University of California, Merced
- Valerie Leppert, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Merced
- Mayya Tokman, Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics, Faculty Director of CalTeach Program, University of California, Merced
- Manuel Alvarado, United Way Merced
- Ann Anderson, University Friends Circle, Merced Symphony Association; Merced Performing Arts Coalition, League of Women Voters
- Nancy Young-Bergman, Make Someone Happy
- Dennis Haines, Merced County Office of Education
- John Magneson, Interim Assistant Superintendent Curriculum & Instruction, Merced County Office of Education
- Tatiana Vizcaino, National Alliance for Mental Illness, Merced County
