Academics

"Romeo and Juliet" is considered William Shakespeare's most famous romantic tragedy. But this Earth Day weekend, it will be transformed into a new production that will offer hope for the future of the environment.

UC Merced is hosting its annual open house event Saturday, April 22, to give admitted, prospective and transfer students the opportunity to learn more about what the university has to offer.

Bobcat Day kicks off at 9 a.m. with a campus information fair, as well as tours of the campus, housing and labs. Attendees are invited to the Carol Tomlinson-Keasey Quad, where Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz will provide welcome remarks.

The University of California, Merced, and College Track are pleased to announce a new partnership focused on ensuring that college students from underserved communities who want to be the first in their families to graduate from college are provided the tools, guidance, and environment to do so.

Sarif Morningstar wondered something: "What happens if I grow plants using fog?"

The UC Merced student's efforts to find an answer to that question led to a research project they got paid to conduct. That in turn led to an opportunity to study plant biology in the UC Davis Ph.D. program.

Like Morningstar, many undergraduate students at UC Merced can get paid to do research under the newly adopted Learning Aligned Employment Program (LAEP).

Bobcat Day turned out to be one of the most important days in Isabella Mitchell's life. Her experience at UC Merced's open house event in April 2022 assured her that she belonged at the newest UC campus — so much so that she submitted her Statement of Intent to Register that afternoon.

Professor Rebecca Ryals has made campus history by being named UC Merced’s inaugural Presidential Chair in Climate Change. The appointment was recommended by her peers and Dean Betsy Dumont from the School of Natural Sciences in recognition of Ryals’ outstanding research, teaching and service.

UC Merced once again broke a record for the number of first-year applications the university received, continuing to show impressive growth even as the national trend shows a decline in the number of students enrolling in higher education.

More than 26,000 prospective first-year, or freshmen, students applied for admission to the university. And nearly 4,000 students applied to transfer to UC Merced. Most of the applicants are from California.

While growing up in the Sacramento area, Donald Carter ('21) said he didn't see many people who looked like him pursuing higher education. As the oldest of four boys in a single-parent household, he spent most of his time setting examples instead of learning from them.

But after graduating from John F. Kennedy High School and deciding to attend UC Merced, Carter realized he could use his experiences to guide other students who may have had similar upbringings.

A new landmark study by the UC Merced Community and Labor Center shows farmworkers across California are facing serious health challenges on a daily basis.

The goal of the Farmworker Health Study was to examine agricultural worker health and well-being, in addition to health care access, local and state policies, and health and training needs.

To ensure the youngest students are ready for the K-12 education system, UC Merced is leading a joint effort to attract and prepare more transitional kindergarten (TK) teachers to serve in classrooms in the Central Valley and across California.