Brenda Ortiz

April 16, 2026

Headshot Simone Samra
Simone Samra’s dedication to education and community work is influenced by her mother's experience immigrating from India and her belief in the power of education for immigrant women. Samra is keenly aware of the barriers immigrants face when attempting to transfer their education or...
Craig Harmelin and Suki Spencer are among the first staff members on campus to receive Fulbright awards
Two staff members in UC Merced’s Office of International Affairs have earned prestigious Fulbright awards that will help the campus expand and develop study-abroad opportunities for students...
More than 1,200 degrees were conferred last weekend, pushing the campus's alumni total over 9,000.
UC Merced’s exuberant spring graduates got the chance to demonstrate their gratitude during the 13th Spring Commencement ceremonies this weekend as many of them paused to thank the faculty...
Nathan Parmeter, Arlene Kranich, Melissa Becerra and Haipeng Li
A generous gift from the grandmother of a UC Merced alumna and current staff member is benefitting two undergraduate students who put the UC Merced Library to good use. Melissa Becerra, a third-...
Last month, the UC Merced Alumni Association (UCMAA) established the UC Merced Alumni Association Journey Endowment with $25,000 it collected through fundraising efforts to support initiatives...
Graduate student Dalena Ngo poses seated at table.
Dig if you will, a picture: the chance to study Prince – the musician and purveyor of all things purple -- as a subject of academic research. UC Merced’s Dalena Ngo did. For years, Ngo...
UC Merced graduates are wrapping up finals and getting ready for UC Merced's 13th Spring Commencement ceremonies this weekend.
This weekend, 1,250 UC Merced undergraduate and graduate students, including 52 doctoral candidates — the most in the campus’s 12-year history — are expected to cross the...
Tomanike Banks will receive a bachelor's degree in public health on May 12, then a month later her journey will take her to Sierra Leone with the Peace Corps.
The odds of Tomanik’e Banks graduating from college were slim — only slightly lower than the odds she’d go to college at all. But Banks had one thing going for her that many...
Portia Mira scored $1,000 for winning third place in the University of California’s 2018 Grad Slam competition , marking UC Merced’s first appearance as a top-three finalist during the...
At the 14th annual UC Merced Leadership Awards, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty advisors and student organizations were celebrated Hollywood style — complete with cameras, lights...

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