Student Affairs

UC Merced Named the 14th Best College in the Nation by Wall Street Journal

October 1, 2025

Following recognition as a Top 25 university by U.S. News & World Report, UC Merced has once again earned national acclaim, this time from the Wall Street Journal. In its 2026 report of the Best Colleges in the U.S., the highly respected media outlet has named UC Merced the 14th best college in...

UC Merced Takes Steps to Curtail Spread of COVID-19

UC Merced is taking the necessary steps to ensure the health and safety of the campus community with the least amount of disruption to its mission of education, research and public service. The...

UC Merced Welcomes Visit by Junior Leadership Merced Students

Fifteen students from Merced County high schools experienced a bit of college life this week as part of the Junior Leadership Merced program. The students visited UC Merced on Monday, Nov. 25,...

Storytellers to Share Personal Lessons in Inaugural ‘Spoken Experience’ Event

Students, faculty and staff members will step up to the microphone and share lessons from their lives during UC Merced’s inaugural The Spoken Experience storytelling event on Thursday, Nov. 14...

Harrison Duran, a fifth-year biology student, discovered a Triceratops skull during a paleontology dig in North Dakota.

Undergrad Discovers Triceratops Skull on Paleontology Dig in North Dakota

Harrison Duran has always wanted to discover ‘the land before time,’ and his desire to dig up dinosaur bones led him to the Badlands of North Dakota, where Alice the Triceratops was...

Auxiliary Services Restructured to Better Serve Students

UC Merced leadership met with more than 50 university staff members this month to discuss organizational changes to housing, dining and other auxiliary services on campus. The goal is to improve...

Man in business suits gestures while addressing a crowd of college students

Admissions Director Reflects on Decades of Promoting UC Merced

There’s something about a UC Merced student that’s just different. Different from your average “college kid” and different from other students in the University of California...

Commencement student speakers Victoria Arias and Cydney Caradonna

Class of 2019 Student Speakers Leave UC Merced with Messages of Gratitude

Undergraduates Victoria Arias and Cydney Caradonna entered UC Merced through different doors. Arias was a freshman impressed with the campus and community. Caradonna was a transfer student and...

Picture This: Migrant Farmworkers’ Daughter Turns UC Merced Grad

When Anna Ocegueda walks across the stage at UC Merced’s 2019 commencement, it will be not only a powerful moment for her, but for her family, too — and for the thousands of people who...

GAMWS Spring Showcase to Exhibit Student Art

Where do Shakespeare and swing dancing collide? At UC Merced’s Global Arts, Media & Writing Studies (GAMWS) Spring Showcase. For the second time this academic year, students, faculty and...