Campus Community

Open Arms, Open Skies: Students Welcomed at Spirited, Soggy Scholars Bridge Crossing

August 26, 2025

Spirits were high and futures bright while all else was soaked in a summer storm that made Tuesday morning’s Scholars Bridge Crossing, UC Merced’s traditional greeting to new students, a welcome unlike any before. Call them Thunder ‘Cats. The ceremony embraced about 2,000...

Founders Day Events Highlight Campus's First 10 Years

UC Merced will commemorate the 10th anniversary of its groundbreaking with a series of Founders Day events Oct. 25 through 27. Several events throughout the three-day celebration will recognize...

Transfer Student Uses Sports, Academics to Inspire Local Youth

At 33, Nick Navarrette isn’t the average UC Merced student. He’s not even the average transfer student. Then again, Navarrette has never been “average,” nor does he pretend to be. Maybe that’s why...

Robotics Society Navigates Uncharted Courses

Sometimes, all you need is a little push, even if it comes from a mechanical arm. That was the case with the UC Merced Robotics Society, which began in 2008 but languished after its founders...

Enrollment Continues to Climb at UC Merced

The University of California, Merced, began its eighth academic year with 5,760 undergraduate and graduate students, up nearly 11 percent to a new high, according to data released today (Sept. 27)....

UC Merced the Focus of Global Sustainable Design Contest

MERCED, Calif. — A global sustainable architecture competition is turning all eyes to the University of California, Merced, the newest campus in the UC system, and the only one to have all its...

Student, Faculty Music Projects Enlivening Area Scene

Professor Arnold Kim’s music couldn’t be more different than that of student-staff-alumni band Feeling Gravity’s Pull. Kim’s The Yellow Hope Project work is heavily influenced by what he has been...

Common Read Builds Community, Connections with Shared Book

A richly illustrated book tracing centuries of change in the California landscape is this year’s Common Read, a program that connects students and faculty across disciplines by putting the same text...

Yosemite Leadership Program Coordinator to Expand Its Profile

The UC Merced Yosemite Leadership Program’s first full-time leader plans to build on the program’s momentum and expand its visibility. Jacob Croasdale was recently selected to oversee the 3-year-old...

Staff Members’ Invention Helping Reduce Campus Waste

UC Merced’s library used to be one of the trashiest places on campus – patrons generated a lot more garbage than recycling. But all that garbage led to an invention by two campus staff members that...