Bruce Lee's favorite dish was oyster sauce beef, and on the evening of May 7 it was on the menu at UC Merced, alongside a conversation about who Lee really was, why he still matters and what his story says about America.
Jeff Chang, cultural historian and author of “Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and...
News
May 12, 2026
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...
May 11, 2026
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...
May 11, 2026
Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine.
Omar DeGuchy remembers the moment he left the comfort of UC Merced — the place he’d found his footing — and stepped onto what some call “the smartest square mile on Earth.” He defended his Ph.D....
May 8, 2026
A new partnership between Reedley College and UC Merced is designed to expand opportunities for students to remain in the Central Valley and seamlessly transfer after completing their community college studies.
The partnership, known as the Merced Promise, will strengthen and streamline transfer...
May 8, 2026
A documentary by a UC Merced professor that enters the bleak world of a fading, elderly man in a Virginia state prison received one of the top honors at the Phoenix Film Festival.
Media and performance studies Professor Yehuda Sharim directed “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” – directed by media and...
May 4, 2026
Students in a UC Merced course stepped off campus and into the real world, developing flyers, website pages and even a TikTok account for a downtown arts center.
Staff at the center became clients and the students contractors in a spring semester project that produced marketing materials, forged...
April 29, 2026
Students who arrive at UC Merced planning on specific careers often discover along the way that their interests — and strengths — are broader than they first imagined.
A new initiative called Education Tracks, or EdTracks, is designed to give students a flexible, low‑risk way to explore careers in...
April 27, 2026
Avinav Biswas, a third‑year undergraduate majoring in biological sciences at UC Merced, has been named a 2026 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, becoming the university’s first recipient of one of the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate awards for students pursuing research careers in science,...
April 23, 2026
Jenni Samuelson watched intently as a handful of students rehearsed a final scene. The lines were brief, bouncing from actor to actor, several voices working as one. Samuelson leaned forward, smiling, her eyes willing them on.
When they finished, she threw up her hands, sprang from her chair and...
