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...

Educator’s Legacy Lives on Through Campus Endowment

Throughout his 51-year teaching career, John Elia made a profound impact on the lives of more than 10,000 students. Now, his legacy will continue through an endowment created by his family. A...

Engineering Students Working on Water Issues for Summer Research Project

Spending a summer finding ways to make toilet water reusable and trying to extract urine from wastewater might not sound glamorous. But the results of the work two UC Merced students are doing though...

President Napolitano Delves into UC Merced-Yosemite Partnership

A two-day visit to Yosemite gave University of California President Janet Napolitano an up-close look at UC Merced’s partnership with the neighboring national park, including some of the students...

Scholarship Helps UC Merced Senior Expand Her Worldview

Patricia Leslie is the first in her family to attend college. And the UC Merced senior is making the most of it, both on campus and beyond. Leslie is studying abroad in Córdoba, a small city located...

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....

Senior Balances Athletics, Academics With Agility

Growing up in Bangkok, Surabordin Prachumsri knew what he wanted to do at an early age. Now in his final year at UC Merced, that hasn’t changed for the 22-year-old. “My mom is an anthropologist, and...

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...