Campus Community

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...

Computer Science and Engineering Students Compete Against Thousands in Hackathon

Three UC Merced computer science and engineering students will take on more than 5,000 other teams around the world at the IEEExtreme Hack-a-Thon on Oct. 21-22. The Hack-a-Thon is a 24-hour...

UC Merced’s Center for Educational Partnerships (CEP) will expand its Upward Bound Program to include a cohort of 60 high school students at Gustine Unified School District (GUSD).

Campus Upward Bound Program to Expand to Gustine Unified School District

A five-year grant totaling more than $1.4 million awarded by the U.S. Department of Education will allow UC Merced's Center for Educational Partnerships (CEP) to expand its Upward Bound Program...

Three women stand next to each other in a mock courtroom.

Latinas in Law: Alumnae Advocate for Immigrants in Valley

Linda Barreto ('08), Jessica Jaramillo Perez ('14) and Alejandra Tenorio Zurita ('20) all knew at a young age that they wanted to become lawyers. What they didn't know, however, was...

Chancellor Muñoz to Help Re-Envision Carnegie Classifications

UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz has been named to the Carnegie Classifications Institutional Roundtable, a panel of higher education leaders that will recommend potential revisions to the way...

UC Merced Shines In Annual Sustainability Report

In the 2022 Sustainable Campus Index, UC Merced placed Top 10 in several categories including a tie for the No.1 spot in research. The annual report published by the Association for the Advancement...

Environmental Systems Student Earns Prestigious Ford Fellowship

Lillie Pennington has been awarded a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine for the 2022-2023 academic year. She is one of 38...

The 14th Dalai Lama is seen in a screenshot from a video recording on Sept. 18, 2022.

'Peace Doesn't Come from the Sky': Dalai Lama Advocates for Togetherness as He Receives Spendlove Prize

A special recognition over a decade in the making was celebrated this month as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was awarded the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and...

Event Focuses on Artificial Intelligence History, Debates

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become part of people's daily lives. From facial recognition to smart assistants and self-driving cars, it's difficult to not be impacted by AI at work,...

UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz, Modesto City Schools Superintendent Sara Noguchi and other educational leaders pose for a photo.

Modesto City Schools Becomes Sixth Partner in Merced Automatic Admission Program

With the flourish of a pen on Tuesday (Sept. 27), students in the Modesto area gained an expedited pathway to become future Bobcats at the University of California, Merced. UC Merced Chancellor...