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...

Video Technology Gives Students More Access to Psychiatric Services

With psychiatrists in short supply throughout the community, UC Merced is leveraging modern technology to expand that service to students. The UC’s 10th and newest campus is the first within the...

Students Expand Build Skills in New Souza Leadership Center

Shy in high school, Rachel Fang didn’t want to follow the same pattern as a UC Merced student. “I decided that I was going to change,” Fang said. “I wanted to be more outspoken.” Fang found the...

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...

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...