Merced-ucation
Produced by Jerry Blair

It's the largest population area of the state that's not served by a U.C. campus: three and a half million people from Stockton to Bakersfield, expected to grow to ten million people by the year 2020. Enter: the University of California, Merced -- a grand plan with grand goals. What is currently a golf course and pastureland will be a full-blown campus by mid-century.

An eventual campus of 2,000 acres -- and a population of nearly 31,000 students, faculty, and staff -- could cause stressful moments for Merced. But the city appears prepared and already seems to be undergoing a metamorphosis in anticipation of the growth.

A wireless provider has opened up an Internet café. Add a new Cineplex theater and the obligatory Starbucks into the mix and the rejuvenation of downtown Merced is well underway. But in a region with a notorious disparity between rich and poor, will the economic rainbow hovering over Merced translate to a better quality of life for those who live here?

Presentation also made possible by a grant from
the Great Valley Center