Student Life

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...

UC Merced Makes Strong Debut in Money’s "Best Colleges" Rankings by Value

UC Merced is one of the country’s best four-year universities for quality, affordability and alumni outcomes, according to Money’s 2020 Best Colleges rankings by value. In its first...

UC Merced Wins Best Practice Awards for Sustainability Efforts

UC Merced is the only campus to win three best practice awards in the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference ’s 2020 energy and sustainability competition. The annual...

The Beginnings sculpture on the UC Merced campus.

Six Students and Two Community Service Organizations Awarded University Friends Circle Scholarships

University Friends Circle (UFC) supports the mission of UC Merced and one way the group does that directly is by supporting students. Each year, UFC members raise money to fund scholarships for...

Students Can Go Online for Wide Range of Leadership, Service and Career Support Services

UC Merced’s support for students who are building leadership skills, engaging in community outreach or searching for careers is going strong during the campus’s move to remote instruction...

‘Philanthropy Day’ Celebrates UC Merced’s Growing Culture of Giving

The Bobcat culture of giving will be celebrated with cookies and fun on Thursday, as the campus marks UC Merced Philanthropy Day hosted by the Student Alumni Association. “The annual...

UC Merced Wins Grant to Financially Support Undergrads Who Volunteer in Local Schools

UC Merced students will be able to earn money for college by helping Merced County kids become strong readers thanks to a pilot grant from the AmeriCorps Service Fellowship program. The grant,...

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...