News

Degrees, Cheers and a Record Number of Graduates Under the Open Sky

May 13, 2026
UC Merced is abuzz with celebration as students, families, friends, staff and faculty finish last-minute preparations for the largest commencement in university history. Across three outdoor ceremonies, 1,649 undergraduates and 112 graduate students will walk the stage at Spring Commencement 2026,...

Exhibit Traces the Heartbeat of Merced Through Sound

May 12, 2026
On a spring day in Merced’s Applegate Park, the man sat in front of a camera, spinning memories. He described decades of Latin music and dance pulsing in the city, moments drawn from eight decades of life and stories told by aunts and uncles. His two interviewers took notes and checked the...

Five UC Merced Faculty Members Earn Early Career Research Awards

May 12, 2026
Five UC Merced faculty members are among the first awardees of a UC-wide honor given for exemplary research in budding academic careers. The Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Awards, launched last fall, support commitment to scholarship and creative activity across the 10-campus system. The...

UC Merced Alumni to Take the Stage as Commencement Speakers

May 11, 2026
UC Merced will celebrate the Class of 2026 with three inspiring alumni returning to campus as keynote speakers for commencement ceremonies May 15-17. Emily Reed, ’07, ’13, a tenured biology professor at Merced College, will share her story with more than 100 master’s and doctoral degree candidates...

Prison Documentary by UC Merced’s Sharim Awarded at Phoenix Film Festival

May 8, 2026
A documentary by a UC Merced professor that enters the bleak world of a fading, elderly man in a Virginia state prison received one of the top honors at the Phoenix Film Festival. Media and performance studies Professor Yehuda Sharim directed “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” – directed by media and...

Writing Students Help a Merced Arts Center Find a Fresh Voice

May 4, 2026
Students in a UC Merced course stepped off campus and into the real world, developing flyers, website pages and even a TikTok account for a downtown arts center. Staff at the center became clients and the students contractors in a spring semester project that produced marketing materials, forged...

UC Merced Opens Flexible Routes from STEM Degrees to Teaching and Beyond

April 29, 2026
Students who arrive at UC Merced planning on specific careers often discover along the way that their interests — and strengths — are broader than they first imagined. A new initiative called Education Tracks, or EdTracks, is designed to give students a flexible, low‑risk way to explore careers in...

UC Merced Student Makes Campus History with Goldwater Scholarship

April 27, 2026
Avinav Biswas, a third‑year undergraduate majoring in biological sciences at UC Merced, has been named a 2026 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, becoming the university’s first recipient of one of the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate awards for students pursuing research careers in science,...

 UC Merced Students, Directed by Jenni Samuelson, to Perform Letters from War

April 23, 2026
Jenni Samuelson watched intently as a handful of students rehearsed a final scene. The lines were brief, bouncing from actor to actor, several voices working as one. Samuelson leaned forward, smiling, her eyes willing them on. When they finished, she threw up her hands, sprang from her chair and...

UC Merced Students, Directed by Jenni Samuelson, to Perform Letters from War

April 23, 2026
Jenni Samuelson watched intently as a handful of students rehearsed a final scene. The lines were brief, bouncing from actor to actor, several voices working as one. Samuelson leaned forward, smiling, her eyes willing them on. When they finished, she threw up her hands, sprang from her chair and...

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