Opening in 2005 as the newest campus of the University of California, UC Merced continually strives for excellence in carrying out the university's mission of teaching, research Opens a New Window. and public service Opens a New Window. , benefiting society by discovering and transmitting new knowledge and functioning as an active repository of organized knowledge. As a key tenet in carrying out this mission, UC Merced promotes and celebrates the diversity Opens a New Window. of all members of its??community.