UC Merced graduation ceremonies set for next week

UC Merced could pass its record set last year for the number of graduates during two ceremonies set for next weekend.

Brenda Ortiz, a spokeswoman for the university, said 1,115 students will participate in the ceremonies, but some of them must return in the fall to finish up their degrees. That gives UC Merced only the slightest buffer to surpass the record set last year of 1,106 graduates.

This also is the university’s 10th year. “Another milestone, 10th graduating class,” Ortiz said.

The ceremonies are expected to draw 9,400 visitors to the school. Some percentage of those family and friends come from outside the area, rent hotel rooms and eat locally – giving a boost to the local economy.

It’s unclear exactly how many students have family and friends traveling into town, but about 36.3 percent of all undergraduate students at UC Merced are from the Central Valley, 35.2 percent from Southern California and 22 percent from the Central Coast and Bay Area.

This year’s graduation will not be accompanied by Cap ‘n’ Town, a celebration that filled downtown with music and other festivities. Since 2009, when first lady Michelle Obama visited the school, the city has held the event.

Past Cap ‘n’ Towns have drawn as many as 10,000 people to Main Street.

Karen Baker, development associate for Merced City Visitor Services, was not available for comment. She has helped organize the event in past years.

Also in past years, Cap ‘n’ Town was funded through a downtown tax collected by the city. This year, the City Council awarded sway over that tax to the Merced Main Street Association, a newly formed group made up of business owners.

President Daniel Kazakos said he was under the belief that the city would maintain Cap ‘n’ Town on its own, without the assistance of the association.

The association has no plans this year for an event that celebrates the UC Merced graduates, he said, but will look at it in future years. One idea is to have a welcoming event and a send-off event every year.

Kazakos said his group has pitched that idea to university officials. “They seemed very interested in doing something like that,” he said.

The School of Natural Sciences and School of Engineering ceremony, which will feature about 500 students, is set for 9 a.m. May 16 on the 5200 N. Lake Road campus. The keynote speaker is Rice University mathematics Professor Richard Tapia. The student speaker is Hatim Hanif, a biology major from Manteca.

The School of Social Sciences and Arts ceremony is planned for 9 a.m. May 17. Cora Marrett, a former deputy director and acting director of the National Science Foundation, is to speak at that commencement. The student speaker is management major John Elias from Santa Rosa.

Both ceremonies take place in the South Bowl, a large grassy amphitheater near the center of campus.

For more information on UC Merced’s commencement events, visit commencement.ucmerced.edu.

This story was originally published May 8, 2015 at 2:05 PM with the headline "UC Merced graduation ceremonies set for next week."