Brenda Ortiz

Students Awarded Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

June 4, 2025

Two UC Merced graduate students wearing blue

Two UC Merced graduate students and an alum from the School of Natural Sciences were recently awarded fellowships from the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. This year, NSF awarded 1,000 GRFP fellowships compared to about 2,000 in previous years...

artist rendering of downtown building with palm tree

Community Invited to Cut Ribbon on New Downtown Center

The campus celebrates the opening of its newest building, the Downtown Campus Center, next week. The building, at the corner of 18th and N streets, across from City Hall in downtown Merced, will...

Four participants in the UC California Naturalist Program explore plant diversity on Cunningham Ranch in Merced County.

Explore Nature, Get Certified, and Open a World of Opportunity

If you love California’s great outdoors and are interested in learning about the state’s natural history and ecology, unleash your inner John Muir by becoming a certified naturalist...

A woman seated, behind the alumna keynote speaker at fall commencement, smiles.

Campus Hosts First-Ever Fall Commencement

More than 80 undergraduate and graduate students gathered in downtown Merced on Dec. 16 for UC Merced’s first-ever Fall Commencement. Graduates — along with their family and friends,...

Shavone Charles' interest in technology started during a summer internship with Google, where she served as a student ambassador liaison between the technology company and UC Merced students.

Alumna Shavone Charles Continues to Blaze a Path in Music and Tech

It’s been five years since Shavone Charles walked across the stage at commencement. On Saturday (Dec. 16), she will return as UC Merced’s first alumni keynote speaker at Fall Commencement...

Marcus Shaw will celebrate his dream of earning a Ph.D. in sociology at the university’s first Fall Commencement ceremony Dec. 16.

Former Street Kid Fulfills Educational Promise with Ph.D.

As a teenager in Merced, Marcus Shaw lived a life marked by poverty, poor choices and indifference to education. The idea of college — especially at the new UC Merced campus — seemed...

Give Tue UC Merced is coming Tuesday, Nov. 28.

Grad Dean Joins Foundation Trustee, Diplomat in Paying It Forward

The annual day of giving at UC Merced — Give Tue UC Merced (#GiveTueUCM) — presents many opportunities for donors to help students and programs. Every opportunity is equally worthwhile...

The Student Impact Fund can support student organizations who lead off-campus projects that address an identified community need.

New Fund Gives Students Assistance

During this year’s Give Tue UC Merced annual 24-hour campaign of giving, participants will have more options to which to direct their support, including a new fund that assists with the...

UC Merced alumni showing their Bobcat pride

Air Force Pilot’s Gifts Give Wings to Students

UC Merced alumnus Daniel Lobato (’13) always planned to give back to the campus that provided him an education. As a student, Lobato started with modest donations during the university’s...

A large group of fraternity members pose in red shirts with uniformed veterans from prior world wars

Service Project Partners Fraternity With West Side Veterans

Gustine’s Veterans Day parade has a been a Westside tradition for as long as most people in the area can remember. It’s also been a tradition for the brothers of Omega Delta Phi for as...