All Alumni are invited to come back to campus to reconnect and reunite with their UC Merced campus and community at Homecoming on October 18-19. From the Alumni Town Hall to the UCMAA Merced Chapter Homecoming Happy Hour, the weekend will feature a wide range of opportunities to reconnect with fellow Bobcats both new and old. Bobcat Trivia 2.0 and the Past & Present Presidents Dinner will feature two key opporutnites for current students to interact and network with alumni. For those who are staying for the whole weekend, the first annual Bobcat Brunch will take place in downtown Merced outside the Cinema Cafe on Sunday morning. To find out more about this year's Homecoming festivities please visit alumni.ucmerced.edu/homecoming.

UC President Janet Napolitano recently visited the Central Valley and hosted an All-UC Alumni Reception in Fresno, CA. In attendance were UCMAA Merced Chapter and Fresno Chapter leaders in addition to UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Tom Peterson. President Napolitano shared her initiatives and priorities for the coming year while also answering questions from the audience. As President Napolitano continues to tour the country and host alumni receptions, be on the look out for an exclusive invite to represent UC Merced in your region.

As a pioneer of the Class of 2009, alumna Anne Mahacek (Mechanical Engineering/BS/2009) recalls the challenging road taken to becoming an engineer – from all-night study sessions to problem after problem on the whiteboard. However, Mahacek credits her success to the family atmosphere at UC Merced and support knowing that her alma mater is behind her. During her undergraduate years at UC Merced, Mahacek was an active student both on and off campus. In addition to co-founding the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Student Chapter she also took part in the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Vanguard – the first engineering club on campus that served as an outlet for all engineering clubs and organizations to meet with the Dean of Engineering. Read more.

Portfolium is the premier network for alumni to stay connected to their alma mater through the sharing of work and experiences. Papers, binders, books and posters eventually get lost over time, but Portfolium remains, linking alumni to their alma mater for years to come. Learn more about Portfolium here and be on the lookout for more information about UC Merced and Portfolium in next month's newsletter.

2009: Liz McKinney (Management/BS/2009) married fellow alumnus Chad McKinney (History/BA/2009) on August 16, 2014.

2009: Rodney Nickens (History/BA/2009) was recently featured on the UC Hastings site for his work during the summer at the Greenlining Institute.

2009: UCMAA Board Secretary Yaasha Sabba (Biological Sciences/BS/2009) is currently serving as a Patent Attorney for Visa Inc.

2009: UCMAA Board Member Michael Oliveira (Bioengineering/BS/2009) earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from UC Riverside in August of 2014 and will begin his career as a Systems Engineer at Acutus Medical.

2010: Ushonda Wilson (History/BA/2010) is currently pursuing her Executive MBA at CSU Stanislaus.

2012: Jennifer Xu (Biological Sciences/BS/2012) and Devin Anzelmo (Cognitive Science/BS/2013) got engaged last Thanksgiving on November 21, 2013.

2013: Noel Justin Lee Gomez (Politcal Science/BA/2013) is back at UC Merced as a staff member of the UC Scholars Early Academic Outreach Program at UC Merced's Center for Educational Partnerships.

2014: Nicole DeGregorio (Chemistry/BS/2014) will be attending graduate school in pursuit of a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Indiana University, Bloomington.

2014: Jordan Vida (Environmental Engineering/BS/2014) is a proud alumnus of the UC Davis Agricultural Innovation Entrepreneurship Academy.

We'd like to share your note with UC Merced alumni! Visit alumni.ucmerced.edu/updateinfo to submit your note today.

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