Graduate Students

Humanities education has been under fire on college campuses over the past decade.

“There’s a lot of concern nationally about graduate education in the humanities. We’re producing plenty of Ph.D.s but are there enough jobs for them upon graduation?” said anthropology and heritage studies Professor Robin DeLugan, who leads UC Merced’s Research Center for Community Engaged Scholarship (ReCCES).

“How do we make a humanities career more feasible?”

It’s spring break 2009 and Jane Lawrence is rushing across campus, the words from the phone call still ringing in her ear. The unimaginable is happening and she must tell Charles Nies,

First Lady Michelle Obama is coming to UC Merced as commencement speaker.

Lawrence, the vice chancellor for student affairs, finds her associate vice chancellor in his office. With the campus quiet and students gone home, Nies had brought his two young daughters to work.

As senior Bobcats prepare to walk the stage this weekend, we asked them to reflect on their own personal journeys at UC Merced. In response, we received stories of growth, self-exploration and change. The next chapter in their lives will bring on a whole new slate of experiences, and whether they leave the area or stay close, these testimonies show that they're versatile, highly adaptable, and ready for whatever life has planned for them.

More than 1,300 students plan to participate in UC Merced's Spring 2024 Commencement, celebrated with three distinct ceremonies on the campus's Recreation Field.

The first ceremony honors Graduate Division students and will begin at 6 p.m. Friday, May 10. There will be 27 master's candidates recognized and 67 Ph.D. candidates hooded.

There are 693 undergraduate students set to cross the stage during the ceremony for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 11.

“Raise your hands if you want to know a secret,” acclaimed author and cartoonist Jorge Cham instructed a crowd of young children. Hundreds of tiny arms shot up in unison toward the cafeteria ceiling.

“Butterflies drink with a straw,” he said. Bustling with excitement, the students expressed their astonishment with “oohs” and “wows.”

Earlier this month, Ambarish Varadan competed in UC Merced’s Grad Slam finals and seized the title of Campus Champion.

This was the second time the Quantitative and Systems Biology (QSB) Ph.D. candidate from Fremont vied for the top prize. Last year, he placed second among the top 10 contenders.

UC Merced Foundation Board Trustee Robert Bernstein, M.D., and his wife, Diplomat Jane Binger, Ed.D., have made generous donations to support Grad Slam.

In Professor Xuecai Ge ’s lab, where UC Merced researchers study how cells talk to each other to develop and differentiate, a recent surprise discovery is lending insight as to how erroneous cell signals lead to disease and birth defects.

Ge and her colleagues zeroed in on a slice of the communication system, the primary cilia, and found a protein called Numb, which they didn’t expect to be there.

Numb facilitates development of the spinal cord and cerebellum during embryonic neurodevelopment.

Who will UC Merced’s Grad Slam champion be?

Cheer on the finalists on April 8 and find out.

Graduate students from UC Merced’s three schools will take the stage to compete in the Graduate Division’s 10th Grad Slam finals.

Glancing at Mike Futrell’s resume, one might ask, “What hasn’t he done?”

He is a retired United States Navy captain with two submarine tours under his belt and 26 years of service; a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives; a former senior staff member in the U.S. Senate; and he practiced corporate law for over a decade and is still licensed in Hawaii and Louisiana. Futrell has served as a California city manager for more than a decade.

He is also a graduate student at UC Merced.

Nearly 33,000 prospective first-year and transfer students applied to UC Merced for the fall 2024 semester — a 12% increase from last year’s applicant pool.

“It is clear that the word has spread far and wide about UC Merced’s culture of innovation, our world-changing teaching and research, and all the exciting opportunities we offer students and families,” said Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz.