The University of California, Merced (UC Merced or colloquially, UCM) is a public land-grant research university in Merced County, California, United States. Established in 2005, UC Merced is the tenth and newest campus in the University of California (UC) system. The main campus is around in size and located around north of the city of Merced and sits adjacent to Lake Yosemite. The campus is adjacent to large swaths of protected natural grasslands and vernal pools, which have shaped its development, capital planning, and research.
UC Merced offers over 60 undergraduate degrees and 18 graduate and professional degrees, with 8,372 undergraduates and 738 graduate students enrolled as of fall 2024. In 2025 the university was classified as an R1 Carnegie research institution becoming the only R1 institution in the Central Valley and one of the youngest universities ever to attain the designation.
History The establishment of the University of California, Merced was the result of decades of work including political lobbying, environmental review, and demographic analysis. The process to create the university was driven by the increasing population of the San Joaquin Valley and the lack of educational access in the region.
Early years In the early 1980s, the Regents of the University of California initiated a formal process to identify a location for a new University of California campus. At the time, the San Joaquin Valley stood out as the largest and most densely populated region in the state that lacked a UC presence. On May 19, 1988, the UC Regents voted to move forward with a plan to establish a new campus in this region. This decision was largely influenced by mounting enrollment pressures known as "Tidal Wave II" where the children of baby boomers would start to enroll in college increasing demand across the existing campuses. In 1989, the Regents further authorized then UC President David P. Gardner to begin the planning process for up to three new campuses to meet these educational demands. Attention quickly turned toward the San Joaquin Valley, which, despite its size and significance, had yet to be served by a UC institution. Residents of the region who wanted to attend a UC campus had to travel significant distances to coastal cities or the Sacramento area which in turn contributed to lower rates of educational attainment in the region compared to the rest of the state.
A wide range of expert consultant teams comprising biologists, engineers, economists, cultural resource analysts, and academic planners were assembled to analyze the eight Preferred sites. This phase of the review also included major public forums organized by the UC Site Selection Task Force, held in key cities such as Bakersfield, Fresno, and Modesto. Hundreds of stakeholders, including community leaders, local residents, and elected officials, attended these meetings to express their opinions and discuss how the campus would impact their region. By 1992, the field was narrowed once more, this time to three final contenders: Fresno, Madera, and Merced. However, plans for selecting a final site were temporarily stalled due to economic constraints and statewide budget issues, delaying any progress until 1993.
Some state lawmakers expressed skepticism toward the project's feasibility: State Senator John Burton called the proposal the “biggest boondoggle ever.” Additional delays occurred when environmental impact assessments for the Madera and Merced sites were found to be inadequate or incomplete, leading to a new round of reviews. Ultimately, on May 19, 1995, the Regents of the University of California made the final decision to locate the new campus in Merced, choosing it over the other two finalist sites in Madera and Fresno.
Development After the University of California completed its site selection process, officials at the state, regional, and local levels launched efforts to craft comprehensive planning and conservation strategies necessary to address the various development challenges associated with the UC Merced project. In October 1996, the County of Merced revised its General Plan, formally designating a Specific Urban Development Plan (SUDP) area and outlining a series of long term public planning goals intended to shape development over the coming decades. Among the priorities set forth in this plan were commitments to protecting farmland, conserving natural wetland and other environmental resources, promoting sustainable growth, and ensuring that the UC Merced campus would be constructed in a timely and environmentally conscious manner. In April 1997, the City of Merced expanded its sphere of influence to incorporate the SUDP area and agreed to collaborate closely with Merced County to facilitate the project's advancement.
In February 1998, a formal partnership was established between the University of California, Merced County, the City of Merced, the Virginia Smith Trust, and the Merced Irrigation District. This collaborative team initiated the Concept Planning Phase for the envisioned University Community. As part of this initiative, Merced County adopted a “Guidance Package,” which aimed to establish a framework for evaluating and managing university related development to ensure that it remained consistent with the existing General Plan. This planning process culminated with the publication of the University Community Concept Report in May 1999, a foundational document that helped guide future steps. Simultaneously, discussions began between university and county representatives and federal and state permitting agencies to streamline approvals for Section 404 permits and other regulatory clearances. At the time, most early planning efforts were concentrated on the Lake Yosemite area, located adjacent to the proposed campus footprint. The proximity of the lake was seen as a significant asset, both for its aesthetic appeal and its ability to distinguish UC Merced from the other UC campuses.
Progress on the project received a major boost in March 1996 when California voters approved Proposition 203, the Public Education Facilities Bond Act. This bond initiative authorized the allocation of funds for constructing new public education facilities, including those within the UC system. To supplement this, Assemblymember Dennis Cardoza secured an additional $55 million in dedicated state funds for UC Merced, with the explicit intention of ensuring the project would not impact the financial standing of the other nine UC campuses. In 1999, the Regents of the University of California appointed Carol Tomlinson-Keasey as UC Merced's founding chancellor, a key figure who proved instrumental in advocating for continued state support and funding.
To meet environmental standards, a formal wetland delineation following the 1987 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers guidelines was conducted, along with extensive biological surveys throughout 1999 and 2000. These surveys targeted a wide range of species including rare vernal pool invertebrates, plants, amphibians, and mammals to assess potential ecological constraints. Given the sensitivity of these habitats, UC and Merced County launched a detailed evaluation of fifteen alternative sites within eastern Merced County to determine if any offered fewer environmental conflicts while still meeting institutional and community development goals.
These studies led to the creation of the Comprehensive Alternatives Analysis (CAA), which ultimately recommended relocating the main campus site. The new site, situated on the grounds of the former Merced Hills Golf Course, was located approximately three miles south of the original location, but still within Virginia Smith Trust property. In addition, the planned University Community was shifted southward off of highly sensitive environmental lands and closer to established urban areas and infrastructure, bringing the project into greater alignment with the City of Merced’s existing development patterns. By early 2001, both the university and Merced County had each prepared their own Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) for the revised campus and community plans. At the same time, UC pursued federal environmental permits to facilitate future expansion beyond the original golf course site.
The passage of Proposition 203 represented a pivotal moment, marking the first time bond money could be used to construct new buildings in both the UC and California State University systems. In March 2001, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation pledged more than $11 million to help the University of California acquire the full 7,030 acres of land held by the Virginia Smith Trust. This agreement led to the creation of a 5,030-acre protected reserve consisting of critical vernal pool ecosystems, while the remaining 2,000 acres were designated for university use. Of that, 750 acres were immediately set aside for inclusion in the UC Natural Reserve System. The Virginia Smith Trust used the sale proceeds to strengthen its scholarship fund, retire outstanding debt from the Merced Hills Golf Course project, and reinvest in the surrounding community's long-term development goals.
Although the university initially planned to conserve around of vernal pool habitat, this figure was later expanded to approximately , resulting in the formal establishment of the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve, now part of the broader University of California Natural Reserve System. The site where UC Merced would ultimately rise had originally been developed as a public golf course during the early 1990s. However, when endangered fairy shrimp were discovered at the originally selected site, the project was relocated. Since the golf course land had already been disturbed and was thus exempt from many of the environmental issues, it proved a much more feasible alternative.
UC Merced had opened a small administrative office at Merced College in 1997, and in 1999 constructed a temporary office on the grounds of the decommissioned Castle Airforce Base. In 2001, UC Merced expanded further by opening a satellite center in downtown Bakersfield, California within its University Square area. This site provided outreach and services including college prep courses and counseling for students across Kern County and the broader southern San Joaquin Valley. However, the Bakersfield center was permanently closed in 2011 as part of UC Merced's efforts to manage expenses and balance its operating budget.
Recent history The campus groundbreaking ceremony was held October 25, 2002, and the first day of undergraduate classes was September 6, 2005 with 706 freshmen, 132 transfer students, and 37 graduate students. First Lady Michelle Obama gave the commencement address for the university's first full graduating class. The campaign to bring Michelle Obama to campus was started by the students of the graduating class where they wrote over 900 cards asking her to come. The commencement was the First Lady's first commencement speaker event.
With the start of the great recession between 2007 and 2009 the University of California was hit with budget cuts by the state. During this time Andrew Scull and 22 other faculty members from UC San Diego authored a letter calling for UC Merced, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Cruz to be closed as a way to save money. Their reasoning was that these institutions were "in substantial measure teaching institutions". In response to this UC President Mark Yudoff wrote a letter to the leaders of all ten campuses to assure them that there would be no campus closures.