School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts

Fall Commencement Graduates Urged to Write Their Own Story

December 22, 2025

Student speaker at 2024 UC Merced Fall Commencement

A beaming Jesus Cevon-Gonzalez stood on Merced’s Main Street, surrounded by his mom and dad, grandparents, sister and other loved ones. He clutched the proof of a freshly bestowed bachelor’s degree in computer science. “I’m just trying to make my parents proud,...

Class of 2014 Bids Farewell, Begins Next Chapter

At two weekend ceremonies, UC Merced conferred degrees on more than 1,000 commencement candidates who said goodbye to the campus they called home for the past four or more years of their lives....

New Center Seeks Better Ways to Communicate Climate Issues

Climate change is creating two problems. One is understanding and addressing its impact on the world. The other is convincing large swaths of the public that it is, in fact, a reality. In an effort...

Student Commencement Speakers Blaze Paths as Campus Leaders

Students Jamie Sweet and Vanessa Estavillo have much more in common than a love of UC Merced, a legacy of leadership and being members of the Class of 2014. These two women have been chosen to speak...

Scholarship Empowers Students to Make a Difference

Five words from one of American history’s most famous speeches inspired Dalton Rogers to contribute to society. He was called to public service in high school when he read President John F. Kennedy’s...

Student’s Lengthy Academic Journey Concludes at Commencement

For Helen Dahman, college was always more marathon than sprint. Now 73, Dahman was just out of high school when she took her first college classes. But she wasn’t ready then and instead entered the...

Walking, Talking in Infants Connected

Infants show a sharp increase in understanding and using language shortly after they begin walking, according to research by a UC Merced developmental psychology professor. “What is it about walking...

Humanities Center Turns World Upside Down

The UC Merced Center for the Humanities has turned the world upside down. The center, which received a $2 million gift in 2012 to expand its activities, selected “The World Upside Down: Topsy-Turvy”...

Students Continue Their Acting Careers at UC Merced

TaNayiah Bryels didn’t get the lead role of Mary in her first-grade Christmas pageant, but it did spark a lifelong interest in theater. The UC Merced student has been acting ever since, landing parts...

Social Feedback Loop Aids Language Development

Verbal interactions between parents and children create a social feedback loop important for language development, according to research by a professor at the University of California, Merced. That...