Alyssa Johansen

The University of California, Merced today announced the largest philanthropic gift in its history, an extraordinary new commitment from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. This transformational investment, Ms. Scott’s second major gift to UC Merced, underscores growing national recognition of UC Merced’s rapid ascent as one of the nation’s most innovative public research universities and a leader in access and opportunity, student success, and social mobility.

When UC Merced launches Give to UC Merced 2025 on Dec. 2, it won’t just be about one day of giving; the month-long campaign will be about hope, opportunity and community impact.

For the 12th year, the campus joins the global Giving Tuesday movement, inviting donors to power change through the university’s UC Merced Fund. Contributions to Give to UC Merced will support the campus’s greatest needs, ensuring UC Merced has the flexibility to fund emerging opportunities, expand programs and student support initiatives, and assist promising scholars with direct financial assistance.

UC Merced Arts has announced its 2025-26 season of performances, exhibitions and public art programs, beginning with the return of East L.A.’s electrifying band Las Cafeteras.

The band’s Día de los Muertos-themed production, “Hasta La Muerte,” comes to Merced on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at the Art Kamangar Center at The Merced Theatre. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m.

The Campos Foundation, one of UC Merced’s most dedicated supporters and partners, has made a $5 million gift for the development of a new state-of-the-art campus facility dedicated to track and field. The university shared plans to name the facility Campos Field in recognition of the foundation’s transformative contribution.

The announcement to name the field was made during halftime of the women’s soccer team season opener Sept.5. The celebratory and symbolic moment also marked the Bobcats’ first time competing in NCAA Division II.

Baseball fans from the UC Merced campus community celebrated the start of the fall semester by witnessing a barnburner of a game at Fresno’s Chukchansi Park.

More than 250 Bobcat students, along with 100 alumni and their families, received tickets to the Aug. 29 game. UC Merced staff and faculty, along with Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz, also attended at the downtown stadium.

Each alumnus received a box filled with mementos that commemorate UC Merced’s 20th anniversary this semester of the start of undergraduate instruction.

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

Adriana Ponce Mata spent the last two summers working in one of the largest and oldest companies in the Bay Area. This fall, she joins UC Merced to begin her next chapter. Through Project SEED, she gained hands-on research experience testing fuels in an oil refinery, sparking her passion for science and helping others.

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

Rolando Ortega is closing in on his dream of earning a Ph.D. This fall, the Cal-Bridge scholar from Los Angeles County joins UC Merced to start his doctoral journey. With experience spanning national labs, NASA outreach and cutting-edge research, Ortega is ready to design devices that push the boundaries of science and technology.

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.

To mark UC Merced’s entry into National Collegiate Athletics Association NCAA Division II competition, the university is launching the Bobcat Club – an initiative designed to support scholar-athletes and the campus’s elevated level of intercollegiate sports.

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.