Commencement

UC Merced Graduates Encouraged to Embrace Every Moment

May 19, 2025

With cheers, hugs and leis, more than 1,500 UC Merced graduates received a celebratory sendoff to their bright futures as a prominent keynote speaker told them to make the most of the here and now. Hundreds of families and friends joined the graduates in three days of commencement ceremonies at...

Shavone Charles' interest in technology started during a summer internship with Google, where she served as a student ambassador liaison between the technology company and UC Merced students.

Alumna Shavone Charles Continues to Blaze a Path in Music and Tech

It’s been five years since Shavone Charles walked across the stage at commencement. On Saturday (Dec. 16), she will return as UC Merced’s first alumni keynote speaker at Fall Commencement...

Marcus Shaw will celebrate his dream of earning a Ph.D. in sociology at the university’s first Fall Commencement ceremony Dec. 16.

Former Street Kid Fulfills Educational Promise with Ph.D.

As a teenager in Merced, Marcus Shaw lived a life marked by poverty, poor choices and indifference to education. The idea of college — especially at the new UC Merced campus — seemed...

Alumna Shavone Charles heads global music and youth culture communications at Instagram.

Shavone Charles is First Alum Chosen for Commencement Keynote

UC Merced is welcoming back its first alumni keynote speaker, Shavone Charles, to address December 2017 graduates at its first Fall Commencement ceremony on Dec. 16. Charles received her bachelor...

Fall Commencement will be held at 11 a.m. Dec. 16 in the Art Kamangar Center at the Merced Theatre downtown.

Fall Grads Get a Commencement Ceremony All Their Own

Beginning this year, UC Merced’s fall graduates will have an earlier occasion to celebrate their outstanding accomplishments. UC Merced is launching a new tradition with its first Fall...

Campus Marks Largest Class, Year of Growth With 2017 Commencement

More than 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students are expected to participate in the University of California, Merced’s 12th commencement ceremonies this weekend — its largest class since opening...

Student Speakers Share Desire to Make a Difference

Jocelyne Fadiga and Havilliah “Jake” Malsbury traveled from different worlds to study at UC Merced. The youngest sister of 13 children, Fadiga grew up in Côte d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) in West...

Class of 2017 Shows Anything is Possible at UC Merced

The newest campus in the University of California system, UC Merced is a campus that attracts leaders — individuals who enjoy the challenge of paving the way for others to follow — and...

Pulitzer Winner, HP Executive to Speak at Commencement Ceremonies

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Héctor Tobar and HP Inc. Chief Diversity Officer Lesley Slaton Brown are the keynote speakers for the University of California, Merced’s 12th commencement...

Congratulations to #UCM2016, UC Merced's 11th Graduating Class

The campus posted 122 updates to social media over the weekend. Here is a curated collection of those and ones shared by members of our community. [View the story “Commencement 2016” on Storify]