Campus Life

UC Merced is preparing to welcome back thousands of students to campus for the start of the university's 19th academic year.

From Aug. 17-20, family and friends will join incoming Bobcats as they arrive on campus throughout move-in weekend. As they settle into the residence halls, student and staff volunteers will be ready to help and answer questions. Almost 4,200 undergraduate students will reside in on-campus housing this academic year.

Here's a challenge:

Four weeks, five days a week and seven hours a day, you have to teach math to middle school students.

During the summer.

And you have to keep it interesting.

The Center for Educational Partnerships (CEP) has been doing just that for the past 18 years at several sites, including UC Merced.

How?

UC Merced students will present research conducted over the summer at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center (UROC) annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.

The research presentations mark the end of the Summer Undergraduate Research Institute (SURI), a nine-week program conducted and hosted by UROC. This summer, over 160 undergraduate students worked alongside UC Merced faculty and graduate students to conduct research in every discipline offered on campus.

After taking part in the UC Merced Center for Analytic Political Engagement 's inaugural legislative boot camp, students say they are better prepared to take on the first internships of their careers.

The week-long session in Sacramento was led by former Assemblymember Adam Gray and political science Professor Nate Monroe and gave a cohort of nine students a look behind the curtain at how policymaking happens at the state Capitol.

UC Merced is highlighting incoming students for fall 2023 — a dynamic, diverse and accomplished cohort of new Bobcats.

When Clovis native and lifelong volleyball player Morgan Wilson first began exploring her options to play at the collegiate level, her path was not clear. She had several out-of-state opportunities, none of which felt like the right fit.

"I didn't even feel a spark with a lot of the schools," she said.

Then she visited UC Merced.

In the early days of building UC Merced, founding faculty member Teenie Matlock took on lots of tasks that were well outside her job description. Over the years, she expanded her service to the campus and UC in many ways, from designing and developing courses and majors to co-authoring foundational policies to spearheading new programs to serving in leadership roles.

The Gateway Scholarship Program, UC Merced's longstanding student-support initiative focused on empowering young people from the San Joaquin Valley, has received a significant infusion of funding, ensuring the scholarship's ability to help Merced-area students for generations to come.

A sea of blue and gold regalia filled Recreation Field as hundreds of UC Merced Bobcats crossed the stage during commencement weekend. Almost 1,500 students took part in three distinct ceremonies celebrating the Graduate Division, School of Engineering (SoE), School of Natural Sciences (SNS) and School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA).

A teacher who has touched the stars and a professor who was the first star in the UC Merced doctoral firmament will serve as keynote speakers at the university’s spring Commencement ceremonies May 12-14.

Final exams are keeping Bobcats busy. The temperature is starting to creep up, ushering in the feeling of summer. Spring 2023 Commencement is fast approaching.