Content Authored by: Imran Ghori

New student housing complex readies for opening

Construction crews are putting the finishing touches on UC Riverside’s new student housing complex project in advance of its opening next month. Major construction of North District Phase 2 is mostly complete with work expected to be wrapped up soon, said John Franklin, a project manager with the Office of Planning, Design, and Construction. The...

By Imran Ghori |

Transportation Services honored by international parking institute

UC Riverside’s Transportation Services was named an organization of the year by an international parking and transportation organization. The department was recognized by the International Parking & Mobility Institute, a world-wide association of professionals in parking, mobility, and transportation. UCR was nominated and won in its 2025...

By Imran Ghori |

ITS program manager wins tech award

Eric Martin, a technical program manager with UC Riverside Information Technology Solutions, is among the winners in the 2025 UC Tech Awards. The annual awards program celebrates individuals and teams within the UC system’s technology community for significant contributions to advancing the university’s mission through innovative tools and...

By Imran Ghori |

Higher ed planners honor SOM II design

UC Riverside’s new School of Medicine instructional building was recognized for excellence in architecture by the Society for College and University Planning. The School of Medicine Education Building II, which opened in fall 2023, received an honorable mention in the society’s 2025 awards, which recognized higher education projects completed...

By Imran Ghori |

Eaton Collection to be featured on Comic-Con panel

UC Riverside is going to Comic-Con. The UCR Library’s Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy will be represented on a panel at the annual San Diego gathering of comic book, genre, and pop culture professionals and fans. The event, which will be held July 24-27, drew over 135,000 attendees from around the world last year. Phoenix Alexander...

By Imran Ghori |

Highlander Farewells for summer 2025

Highlander Farewells is a recurring feature spotlighting faculty and staff members who recently retired or are retiring soon. Learn more about the contributions of UCR colleagues with about 25 years or more of service in the short profiles that follow. Retirees with fewer years or who did not provide profile information are listed below. The list...

By Imran Ghori |

UCR celebrates groundbreaking for innovation park

UC Riverside has begun construction of the SoCal OASIS Park™, a research and innovation hub near campus that represents a major step in promoting economic growth in Inland Southern California. Community and campus leaders celebrated the project at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday, June 23, at the 3.44-acre site on University Avenue near campus. The...

By Imran Ghori |

UCR ranked highly in world rankings

UC Riverside has been named one of the world’s top universities in the 2026 edition of the QS World University Rankings released June 19. The campus placed No. 66 in the United States in the 20th edition of the rankings, published by higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds and posted at TopUniversities.com. Among the nation’s public...

By Imran Ghori |

New pre-law advisor helps guide students

UC Riverside students seeking careers in law can now get expert guidance to prepare for their academic path to law school and beyond. A new campus program offers students information, advising, and support on topics such as planning for law school, what field of law they might want to pursue, and even if the legal profession is right for them. The...

By Imran Ghori |

From orchard to campus: How UCR ice cream is made

Walking through rows of citrus groves on a sunny April morning, about a dozen UC Riverside Dining Services employees picked fruit off trees and loaded it in crates into the bed of a truck. A little more than a month later at the Scoops Ice Cream shop at the HUB, Brian Alcantara, retail restaurant manager for HUB operations, ladled ice cream freshly...

By Imran Ghori |

Former UCR Extension building demolished

The final pieces of the old UC Riverside Extension building came down last week as construction crews completed its demolition. The 3.44-acre site will be developed into the SoCal OASIS™ Park, construction of which will start this summer. The park will serve as a hub for research and economic development with laboratories, startup space, and...

By Imran Ghori |

Mary Droser wins top faculty award

The UC Riverside Academic Senate honored seven faculty members for their research, teaching, and public service accomplishments in its annual awards with its top prize going to paleontologist Mary Droser. Droser, a distinguished professor of geology, is the recipient of the 2024-25 Faculty Research Lecturer Award, the highest honor bestowed to...

By Imran Ghori |

Campus earns gold rating for sustainability

UC Riverside received a gold rating for its sustainability efforts from an organization that tracks the nation’s most sustainable colleges and universities. The campus earned the recognition May 15 from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, or AASHE STARS....

By Imran Ghori |

Mobile mental health team helps students where they’re at

For UC Riverside students experiencing a mental health crisis, help now comes to them thanks to a new mobile crisis and intervention team on campus. The Student Well-being, Intervention and Follow-up Team, or SWIFT, made up of three behavioral and mental health professionals, is often the first to respond to calls where a student is in crisis. A...

By Imran Ghori |

UCR launches climate plan process

UC Riverside has begun preparing a climate action plan that will put into place practices and policies towards University of California system-wide sustainability goals. The document, set to be completed by the end of the year, is the first of its kind under a new UC policy. UC updated its sustainability practices policy last year requiring each...

By Imran Ghori |

Campus explores solutions to improve rooftop maintenance

On a chilly Sunday morning, a group of UC Riverside Facilities Services employees gathered to watch a leaf blower fly over the campus. The leaf blower was attached to a large drone that took off from a nearby lawn and hovered over the Pierce Hall roof as part of a test in late April to see if the department can use drones to clean drains and...

By Imran Ghori |

Chancellor Wilcox send-off includes festivities and a new street name

UC Riverside will pay tribute to Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox and give the campus a chance to wish him well at a farewell celebration on May 8. Faculty and staff are invited to join the 3 p.m. send-off on the lawn outside Tomás Rivera Library, which will include music, food, and prizes. Wilcox announced in September that he will be retiring at the end...

By Imran Ghori |

New instructional building passes construction milestone

Progress on UC Riverside’s new instructional building project reached a major milestone this month with the full frame now standing. The construction team poured the final concrete placement at the top of the four-story Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Facility on April 17, representing the completion of the first major phase of work. “All the...

By Imran Ghori |

NPR host shares stories of radical empathy

At a time when many Americans may be overwhelmed by the constant deluge of news, broadcaster Ari Shapiro described how “radical empathy” can inspire people to remain engaged and hopeful. The host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Shapiro delivered the 56th Annual Hays Press-Enterprise Lecture to a full house at UC Riverside’s University Theatre on...

By Imran Ghori |

Bank mural spotlights UCR

Muralist Juan Navarro has spent his career taking inspiration from the many facets of Riverside’s community. His latest work adds UC Riverside to that list, showcasing iconic images of the campus. Navarro created the mural in January for the Altura Credit Union branch on University Avenue, on a wall next to the teller windows. The bank, which has...

By Imran Ghori |