Campus Life

At the end of May, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Gregg Camfield will step down after five years in the role and nearly a decade in executive leadership at UC Merced. He intends to take a year’s sabbatical then return in the role he held when he arrived on campus in 2007 – professor of 19^th century literature with an ardent curiosity about Mark Twain, storytelling and the power of untethered creativity.

After a three-year hiatus, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Student Chapter from UC Merced held its fifth annual Central Valley regional conference on campus.

The UC Merced SIAM Student Chapter hosted the mid-April conference in the Dr. Vikram and Priya Lakireddy Grand Ballroom, where undergraduate and graduate students from universities in the Central Valley and the central coast gathered with faculty. Attending schools included UCs Davis and Santa Cruz, California State universities Fresno and Stanislaus and the Naval Postgraduate School.

Nearly 1,500 students plan to participate in UC Merced's Spring 2023 Commencement that will be celebrated with three distinct ceremonies on the campus's Recreation Field.

The first ceremony kicks off Friday, May 12, at 6 p.m. for the Graduate Division. Forty-one master's candidates and 61 Ph.D. candidates will cross the stage and be recognized during the ceremony.

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's and women's outdoor track teams swept the team titles at the California Pacific Conference Championships on Friday at Soka University Track Complex.

Individually, Jonathan Chavez took home Cal Pac Track Male Athlete of the Year honors, Elizette Ysais earned Cal Pac Female Athlete of the Year, and head coach Vicente Velarde was named the Cal Pac Men's and Women's Coach of the Year.

The excitement was palpable at UC Merced as a record number of people descended on the campus for Bobcat Day. More than 5,700 students, family members and friends attended the annual open house event April 22 to learn about the university and its offerings.

Zayd Andre doesn’t consider himself outdoorsy, but the second-year computer science and engineering major from Fullerton caught the exploring bug in elementary school.

“I believe my first trek was with the Cub Scouts in first grade to Holy Jim trail in the Cleveland National Forest. This sparked my passion for nature and hiking, and since then I've tried to go on a hike at least once a month,” he said.

First-year student Edwin Casillas found everything he was looking for in a university — and more — at UC Merced. Nearly a year after the Sonora native said he "felt at home" when visiting the campus, he is confident he made the right decision to become a Bobcat.

"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.

One question students considering attending UC Merced might ask is, "What's there to do around there?"

The quick answer is - a lot. There are plenty of ways for students to spend their leisure time in the greater Merced area, for students of varying interests:

Are you an outdoors enthusiast? Do you enjoy nights out with crowds of friends? Are you a devoted video game player? Do you like the challenge of thrift shopping? Do you prefer to just chill out, perhaps with a book while water laps gently at the shore?