Student Life

The University of California, Merced, has received the 2025 Higher Education Excellence and Distinction Award from Insight Into Academia magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. The annual HEED Award is a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to academic excellence, belonging and community building across all levels of campus life.

UC Merced will be featured, along with 60 other recipients, in the October 2025 issue of Insight Into Academia magazine.

UC Merced, in conjunction with longtime campus partner the Campos Foundation, launched the pilot Campos ENgage Summer Bridge Academy, a weeklong summer program aimed at supporting underrepresented minority and female students interested in STEM.

Spirits were high and futures bright while all else was soaked in a summer storm that made Tuesday morning’s Scholars Bridge Crossing, UC Merced’s traditional greeting to new students, a welcome unlike any before.

Call them Thunder ‘Cats.

The ceremony embraced about 2,000 first-year and transfer students to a campus that this fall semester marks 20 years since the first undergraduate class began at the newly built institution, bringing the power of a University of California education to the Central Valley.

The new academic year is a momentous milestone for UC Merced — two decades of growth, innovation and achievement. In 2005, the first undergraduate students were welcomed on the new campus. Now, 20 years later, thousands more new students will begin their own journeys that will shape their futures and the future of UC Merced.

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester.

Drake Ledford was an exemplary high school student, earning a 4.29 GPA. The Merced Union High School District (MUHSD) recognized him as one of its top scholars. He was also honored as valedictorian for his class and a California Scholarship Federation Sealbearer, the highest level of recognition for academic achievement, at his graduation in June.

A group of dedicated UC Merced alumni have come together to launch an endowed fund focused on supporting LGBTQ+ student initiatives, programs and priorities.

Spearheaded by University of California Regent Emeritus Keith Ellis ’12, the LGBTQ+ Lambda Student Engagement Endowment was created to foster a more inclusive and affirming environment for students from diverse sexual and gender identities, now and for generations to come.

When Nicolette Lecy began her graduate studies at UC Merced, life was anything but typical.

It was August 2020, in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lecy’s classes were held remotely, and she had limited access to campus.

Another challenge that could have hindered Lecy’s academic goals — she became a mother during the Thanksgiving break of her first semester at UC Merced.

The University of California, Merced, will celebrate the accomplishments of more than 1,500 students during its Spring 2025 Commencement ceremonies, to be held May 16 -18 on the UC Merced Recreation Field. The ceremonies will recognize graduates from all academic schools over three days of celebration.

The festivities begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 16, with the Graduate Division ceremony, honoring 120 students receiving master's and doctoral degrees.

UC Merced is only two decades into its mission of shaping the next generation of trailblazers. But that’s more than enough time for multiple Bobcats to come from the same family.

Dawit Gemeda’s sister attended the university about eight years ago, so the surroundings felt comfortably familiar when he and his folks joined thousands of others at Bobcat Day, the annual open house for the San Joaquin Valley’s only research university.

UC Merced is excited to welcome admitted students, their families and friends for another unforgettable Bobcat Day. Set for Saturday, April 19, this annual open house promises a full day of engaging presentations, activities and a firsthand look at life as a Bobcat. Throughout the event, faculty, staff, students and alumni will be available to share personal experiences and answer questions about academic programs, student life, clubs and organizations.