Undergraduate Students

First-generation Students Shine at UC Merced. This Week Celebrates Them

November 3, 2025

UC Merced Professor Rose Scott, student Narciso Martinez Solorio

More than six in 10 UC Merced undergraduates are the first in their families to attend a university. The national average for four-year universities is about two in 10. Opening doors to opportunity for first-generation students is infused into UC Merced’s DNA. Young people who had little...

Campus Launches Countywide Food and Ag Exchange

UC Merced is taking steps to fight hunger and tackle food waste on campus and across Merced County. The campus has launched CropMobster Merced County, an online food and agricultural exchange and...

Prachumsri Named Men’s Volleyball Coach

UC Merced’s Athletics Department has hired women's volleyball coach and alumnus Surabordin “Ai” Prachumsri as the men's volleyball head coach. He will remain coach of the women’s team, as well. After...

EECU Gift Helps Enrich Valley Teachers

Dozens of educators took part in the CalTeach Professional Development Summer Institute for Valley Teachers last year, and thanks to another generous gift from Educational Employees Credit Union (...

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...

Students’ Engineering Chops to be Showcased at ‘Innovate to Grow’

Is it still possible to build a better mouse trap? Engineering students at UC Merced think so. “Eraticate” — a fitting name for a group focused on mouse trap optimization — isn’t concerned with the...

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...

Shakespeare, Muir Come Alive in Yosemite for Earth Day

The works of Shakespeare, perhaps more so than any in the western canon, have been subject to reinterpretation and reappraisal by generations of artists, scholars and laypeople. Some, like Verdi’s...

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...

Students Help Campus Earn Latest LEED Certification

UC Merced’s Classroom and Office Building (COB) has achieved a silver rating from the LEED Building Operations and Maintenance (O+M) sustainability program, the campus’s first certification to come...