Student Life

UC Merced Recognized on Newsweek’s Inaugural ‘America’s Best Colleges for Women’ List

February 4, 2026

Recent female UC Merced graduates wave to the camera

UC Merced has been recognized on Newsweek’s inaugural America’s Best Colleges for Women 2026 list, a national ranking designed to spotlight institutions that support, advance and elevate women across campus and beyond. Newsweek developed the new report in partnership with Gender Fair...

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...

Graduating seniors receive their Alpha Kappa Delta cords for graduation at the symposium. From left to right: Valezka Murillo, Karen Gomez, Lesly Castro, Keila Luna, Rocío Murillo, Anne Oyales, Ellie Robledo, and Professor Sharla Alegria

Sociology Honors Society Hosts First Annual Research Symposium

Finals are a busy time for students, but that didn’t stop UC Merced’s sociology undergraduates from kicking off their first annual Alpha Kappa Delta Research Symposium on April 19....

A Night of Community Art Showcases Principles of Community

Fourteen students, faculty and staff members drew upon their artistic skills to create an array of art pieces to showcase at UC Merced’s Night of Community Art on April 19. The event is the...

UC Merced students took part in the annual Pride Week march on Monday, April 1.

Pride Week Celebrates Year of Growth, Resistance and Expression

On Monday, April 1st LGBTQ+ students and allies at UC Merced kicked off their annual Pride Week festivities with a ceremony by the Native Indigenous Student Coalition (NISC), followed by a...

Bobcats Celebrate Freshman Phenom Athletes

Last fall, Turlock native Marcus DeCouto reminded the sports scene that UC Merced consistently brings some of the top freshmen to the California Pacific Conference. DeCouto, now a sophomore...

UC Merced Gets Into the ‘Act’

Shakespeare wrote “the play’s the thing.” Of course, he was referring to using a play to catch a murderer, but in Shakespeare’s day, people believed the theater had the power...

News and Notes: UC Launches Million Light Bulb Challenge, Upcoming Ally Trainings Offered

Let There Be Energy-Efficient Light The University of California is spearheading a statewide effort to advance the purchase of 1 million high-quality, energy-efficient light bulbs for campus...

Summer Events Offer Something for Students Wanting to Beat the Heat and Take a Break

It may be summer, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do at UC Merced. For students enrolled in Summer Session, the Office of Student Life has a robust schedule of events to keep...

Young Artist Movement Making Room for More Art on Campus

Three enterprising Global Arts Studies Program (GASP) students saw the empty UC Merced Art Gallery on campus and, worried the space would be reallocated, wondered why they couldn’t volunteer to...