News

Commuter Student Finds Belonging at UC Merced

March 31, 2026

Most weekdays, civil engineering major Jacqueline Garcia travels 45 minutes each way from her hometown of Hughson to attend classes at UC Merced. “The perk is being able to pursue my undergraduate degree while still having a tie to home. It's been great having the campus here in the Valley,” she...

UC Merced’s Center for Health Equity Convenes Partners to Address Patient Trust Gap in San Joaquin Valley

March 26, 2026

On March 20, UC Merced's Center for Health Equity brought together researchers, regional health partners and community members to share findings from a study on how community health workers are transforming patient care across the San Joaquin Valley. "This has been a long-term vision for myself and...

Two UC Merced Researchers Among This Year’s AAAS Fellows

March 26, 2026

Professors Asmeret Asefaw Berhe and Ming-Hsuan Yang have been named 2025 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. They are among the nearly 500 scientists, engineers and...

Her UC Merced Path Changed But Stockton Student Stays on Track

March 25, 2026

Taliyah Miller would be the first to tell you she arrived at UC Merced with an unwavering, long-range goal: become an anesthesiologist. What she could not have predicted was that a difficult roommate, a therapist’s question and a job she forgot she applied for would upend that goal and leave her...

CalTeach and Local Schools Team Up to Energize Learning across Merced County

March 23, 2026

UC Merced’s CalTeach program is opening new pathways for younger students to experience hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning, academic support and early exposure to a college environment. The CalTeach program, present at every UC campus that offers undergraduate...

Ripon Student Turning Heart and Heritage into a Path of Healing

March 19, 2026

As a child of the Central Valley and a member of a Native tribe, Grace Grinder developed an early awareness of health care disparities affecting rural regions and underserved communities. While in third grade, Grinder lost her grandmother to what she described as too few physicians nearby to...

Toloma 5K to Celebrate Native Heritage, Community at UC Merced

March 19, 2026

UC Merced’s Division of Equity, Justice, and Inclusive Excellence will bring campus and community together Saturday, March 21 for the annual Toloma 5K, a morning run and walk that celebrates Native heritage, community connection and the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the land. The run/...

Ants, Endurance and a Ph.D. at the Finish Line

March 18, 2026

On most days, Reo Maynard’s life swings between two ecosystems: the microscopic world inside an ant’s gut and the sprawling one that stretches from Fresno to the Sierra Nevada mountains. The 51-year-old Navy veteran, dad of two, screenwriter-in-waiting and newly minted Fresno City College faculty...

Student Finds Community and Purpose Through Culture and Literature

March 12, 2026

Between classes at UC Merced, you will often find Padme James under the trees outside the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. What she studies there isn’t directly correlated to her classwork, but it connects her roots to where she hopes her future is headed. Instead of reviewing notes for a lecture...

Student Philanthropy Month Returns to UC Merced with Focus on Service and Giving

March 11, 2026

Student Philanthropy Month, now in its fifth consecutive year, gives students opportunities throughout March to better understand philanthropy and its impact on the university, the community and beyond. UC Merced Alumni Relations, in partnership with the UC Merced Student Alumni Association, is...