David Zwart hadn't even finished introducing himself as the keynote speaker for "The Dutch -American Story in the San Joaquin Valley" at the UC Merced event on July 14 before he'd found a connection in the audience. 

"Any connections?" the historian and associate professor at Grand Valley State University asked, rattling off the years he'd spent teaching in nearby Visalia in the late 1990s. An audience member called out a name he recognized. It's a parlor game Zwart calls "Dutch Bingo," a version of six degrees of separation that, among Dutch Americans, usually takes one or two. 

UC Merced has established its identity as a world-class research university that welcomes learners who historically have been left out of higher education. Nearly three-quarters of its undergraduates are first-generation college students.

This distinction put the university in welcome company when it co-hosted one of a handful of institutes held nationwide that trained instructors on how to teach reading and writing effectively at access-oriented institutions: community colleges and open-enrollment universities that educate underserved students.

An all-faculty rock band formed in a professor’s garage a decade ago has released the first album produced at UC Merced’s digitally advanced recording studio.

The album showcases the eight members of G Street Revolution. Their day jobs cross a spectrum of academics: engineering, sociology, mathematics, music and writing. The album, their first, is called “Dumpster Fire.”

Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine.

Temnee Wright, ’08 has realized a successful career as legal counsel at several Silicon Valley companies. Her interest in law was forged at UC Merced, where she made the most out of being a student in the university’s first undergraduate class.

Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine.

Walk across UC Merced’s campus on any weekday, and you might hear laughter spilling from a classroom, feel the thrum of a wind tunnel or spot students crouched in a field searching for mushrooms.

Not every college course follows a familiar script, and at UC Merced, some of the most talked-about classes are the ones that don’t.

A new UC Merced major arrived just in time for Tyrese Francis.

When the student starts his third year at the university this fall, he will dive into coursework for a degree in business administration, one of two degrees debuting in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.

“I’ve always wanted to be a leader,” said Francis, who hails from the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. “I feel this major will give me the skills I could apply to a leadership role.”

UC Merced is abuzz with celebration as students, families, friends, staff and faculty finish last-minute preparations for the largest commencement in university history.

Across three outdoor ceremonies, 1,649 undergraduates and 112 graduate students will walk the stage at Spring Commencement 2026, marking a record-setting milestone for the university. This year’s celebrations are especially meaningful as the university awards its 1,000th Ph.D., highlighting just how far the institution — and its graduates — have come.

On a spring day in Merced’s Applegate Park, the man sat in front of a camera, spinning memories. He described decades of Latin music and dance pulsing in the city, moments drawn from eight decades of life and stories told by aunts and uncles.

His two interviewers took notes and checked the microphone’s levels. All good.

Then came a sound that smothered his voice — the blast of a horn and clatter of rolling steel as a train passed, only two blocks away. They waited. When it was quiet again, the man, David Soria, smiled.

Five UC Merced faculty members are among the first awardees of a UC-wide honor given for exemplary research in budding academic careers.

The Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Awards, launched last fall, support commitment to scholarship and creative activity across the 10-campus system. The awards build on a range of programs and initiatives across the system designed to support thriving faculty careers at UC. 

UC Merced will celebrate the Class of 2026 with three inspiring alumni returning to campus as keynote speakers for commencement ceremonies May 15-17.

Emily Reed, ’07, ’13, a tenured biology professor at Merced College, will share her story with more than 100 master’s and doctoral degree candidates and their guests at the Graduate Division ceremony on May 15.