Academics

A fall census shows enrollment at the University of California, Merced, has reached 6,195 students — a 7 percent increase over last year — as the campus continues to grow in both numbers and competitiveness.

After evaluating a record application pool of more than 18,000, the university enrolled 1,757 new undergraduate students for the 2013 fall semester. The freshman class jumped by nearly 11 percent, from 1,495 to 1,654 — making it the largest freshman class in the campus’s history. In addition, the campus added 103 transfer students and 101 graduate students.

UC Merced has a unique opportunity to help the San Joaquin Valley as the university forges the newest branch of the Blum Center for Developing Economies.

The $400,000, two-year seed grant through the University of California allows the university to launch its center, themed “Global California: The World at Home.” The UC Merced initiative is affiliated with the Blum Center at UC Berkeley, which was founded by a gift from investment banker and UC Regent Richard C. Blum.

The University of California today (Sept. 18) began Promise for Education, a six-week crowd-funding campaign to engage students, faculty, alumni, celebrities, businesses, politicians and supporters in a novel drive to raise money for UC student scholarships.

With UC Merced in her hometown, Hillary Brown had an easy commute to her college campus.

Six students with close ties to the San Joaquin Valley are on track to becoming physicians as part of the UC Merced San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (PRIME). The group, which began their medical studies recently in Sacramento and represents the third cohort in the program, includes:

The University of California, Merced, kicks off its 2013-14 academic year today with the largest and most diverse class of incoming freshmen, the largest contingent of graduate students, the largest total enrollment and the largest body of faculty members in its history, the university said today.

It has been four years since Mike Oliveira earned his bachelor’s degree in bioengineering at UC Merced, but the campus still feels like home to him.

In John Bultena’s writing classes, students often explore new literary classics. Like “Batwoman Volume 1: Hydrology.”

UC Merced senior Alexandra Hamilton is spending five months at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, studying global markets and business.