A new effort is underway to lay the groundwork for the next major development at UC Merced — a fourth school, this one with the Gallo family name on it.
The planning initiative is a faculty-led effort to create a new, transdisciplinary school that draws upon the expertise of scientists, researchers and practitioners from broad backgrounds to instill the next generations of leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to understand, design and manage complex systems.
The process will take several years, but Professor Paul Maglio, recently named director of the Gallo School Planning Initiative, said it’s time to look to the future and the next big development at UC Merced.
“We think the time is right to establish a new Gallo school at UC Merced to carry forward the interdisciplinary mission and vision of the campus and that relates broadly to management, decision making, information, communication and sustainability, and embraces the complexities of real interactions between people, institutions, technologies and the natural world,” Maglio said.
A new standalone Gallo school will join the schools of Engineering; Natural Sciences; and Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts among the campus’s offerings for education and research and become the campus’s first named school.
“We sincerely appreciate the effort and vision of the faculty who are working to make this school a reality,” said Bob Gallo, co-chairman of the board for E. & J. Gallo Winery and a founding member of the UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees.
The Gallo school planning process will involve the campus community, and approval will involve review by the Academic Senate and administration at the campus and system levels, and, ultimately, the University of California Regents.
The vision of building a new school around Management of Complex Systems, Economics and Business Management, and Cognitive and Information Sciences has the potential for making the Gallo school unique and valuable in the region, the state — and the world.
Maglio assembled a faculty task force to help with the academic planning, which has already published a short vision statement and solicited comments and encouraged individuals and groups to register interest in participating.
The departments of Cognitive & Information Sciences and Economics & Business Management — both in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts — and the Department of Management of Complex Systems in the School of Engineering together articulated the vision that underlies the Gallo school initiative.
“The vision of building a new school around Management of Complex Systems, Economics and Business Management, and Cognitive and Information Sciences has the potential for making the Gallo school unique and valuable in the region, the state — and the world,” Chancellor Dorothy Leland said. “Our vision is to educate the next generation of business leaders and to make the Gallo school a unique and innovative institution in the region, the state and the world. We are honored that our new school will bear the name of Ernest and Julio Gallo, two pioneers who built a global business in the Central Valley.”
Aligning these three departments represents an innovative integration of perspectives related to management, economics, information, cognition and coupled human-natural systems.
The Department of Management of Complex Systems — part of the Ernest & Julio Gallo Management Program — recently developed educational opportunities including a new Master of Management professional degree program, new Ph.D. and M.S. programs in Management of Complex Systems , and a new management analytics and decision-making undergraduate minor. The new school would encompass these degree opportunities, as well as successful undergraduate and graduate programs in economics, cognitive science, and management and business economics.
“I believe this faculty-driven and open process for defining the vision and mission of the Gallo school will lead to a proposal that will quickly gain acceptance by the campus community and approval by the Academic Senate and the UC Office of the President,” interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Gregg Camfield said.
We sincerely appreciate the effort and vision of the faculty who are working to make this school a reality.