This holiday season is extra special for hundreds of UC Merced graduates, as the university recently held its fall commencement ceremonies at the downtown Merced Theatre.
According to a UC Merced news release, around 400 graduates participated in the ceremonies.
UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sanchez Munoz congratulated the graduates on a job well done, encouraging them to embrace the “intrepid” Bobcat spirit as they move forward into their next chapter of life.
“You are all essential members of this UC Merced community, helping us build a culture of inquiry, discovery and learning that will last for generations,” Munoz said in his welcome address.
“You have persevered through challenges and overcome obstacles — never more so than during the pandemic — and you leave UC Merced more prepared than ever to succeed in your careers and in your lives.”
The ceremony for the graduate division was held Friday, Dec. 20. Undergraduates were celebrated Saturday, Dec. 21.
The commencement speaker for the undergraduate division was Lourdes M. Castro Ramírez, president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Housing Authority, which is the second-largest public housing authority in the nation, according to a news release.
Yuriana Aguilar-Sanchez, a professor of biology at Texas A&M University, spoke during the university’s graduate commencement.
“UC Merced is so new that you have no choice but to make history here,” Aguilar-Sanchez said.
“Your presence is engraved into UC Merced, and I hope UC Merced is engraved into you, too. You represent this awesome school that trained you and you should be very proud. You have earned your “golden” degree from the University of California, Merced.”
The event was a homecoming for Aguilar-Sanchez, who emigrated to the U.S. from Mexico and enrolled at UC Merced in 2007.
The federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program made it possible for Aguilar-Sanchez to begin working on a doctoral degree in quantitative systems biology, focusing on the autonomic nervous system regulation over the heart’s function, according to a news release.
Earlier this year, Aguilar-Sanchez joined the faculty at Texas A&M, starting a research lab that studies the effects of diabetes on the heart.
