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,...
News
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...
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...
May 11, 2026
Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine.
Omar DeGuchy remembers the moment he left the comfort of UC Merced — the place he’d found his footing — and stepped onto what some call “the smartest square mile on Earth.” He defended his Ph.D....
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...
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,...
April 20, 2026
A throng of people came to UC Merced on a crisp, blue-sky Saturday for Bobcat Day. More than 7,000 were registered to attend the April 18 event for admitted and prospective first-year and transfer students, along with their families.
The day was an opportunity for people to meet professors,...
April 15, 2026
Nervous but prepared, Tahirah Williams took the stage at UC Merced’s Grad Slam competition in March and delivered her three-minute talk, “More Than Slime: When Mucus Meets the Valley Fever Invader.” By day’s end, she had been announced as the university’s 12th Grad Slam Campus Champion.
“It feels...
