Commencement
ceremonies
GRADUATE DIVISION
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING & SCHOOL OF NATURAL SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES,
HUMANITIES AND ARTS
COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
Keith E. Alley
Keith E. Alley, DDS, '68; PhD’72 had a distinguished career as a faculty member and administrator at three universities. As a professor of Bioscience and Anatomy at Case Western Reserve and Ohio State Universities his research focused on mechanisms of developmental neuromuscular plasticity. At Ohio State he also served in administrative positions at the Department, College and University levels. Alley was recruited to participate in the startup of the University of California-Merced as a founding faculty member in the School of Natural Sciences and as the Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies. During his decade at UC-Merced he also served as the Interim Vice Chancellor for Administration and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost for the six years prior to retiring in 2012. Since retiring he has been actively involved in community volunteer work and has traveled extensively to all seven continents. He was recognized as a distinguished alumnus of the University of Illinois in 2018.
COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
Ted Mitchell
Specialization: Access to high-quality outcomes for all students
Ted Mitchell has served as president of the American Council on Education (ACE), the major coordinating body for the nation’s colleges and universities since September 2017. Mitchell and his team work closely with Congress, the executive branch, and the private sector to develop policies and innovative practices that serve our country’s postsecondary learners.
Mitchell’s leadership of ACE and the entire higher education community is informed by a career committed to increasing access to high-quality education and improving outcomes for all students. Mitchell served in the Obama administration as U.S. under secretary of education from 2014 to 2017 and was responsible for all postsecondary education policies, such as initiatives focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, minority serving institutions, and federal student aid. Mitchell and his team at the Department of Education (ED) reinstated Pell Grants for incarcerated adults, created the College Scorecard, and restored millions of dollars to students who were defrauded by their institutions. Before joining ED, Mitchell served in a variety of higher education leadership roles, including as president of Occidental College (1999–2005); vice chancellor and dean at the University of California, Los Angeles; professor and department chair at Dartmouth College; and a member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees.
Mitchell has also been a leader in K–12 education. He served as chief executive officer of the NewSchools Venture Fund—a venture philanthropy that invests in K–12 innovation to support low-income students, schools, and communities—and as president of the California State Board of Education. Throughout his career, Mitchell has worked to create an educational system that serves the goals of excellence, equity, and social justice.
Mitchell is a current board member of Coursera, Khan Academy, Occidental College, TIAA, Education Quality Outcomes Standards Board, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, and Credential Engine.
Mitchell received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as his PhD, from Stanford University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
STUDENT SPEAKER
Linda Jerome
Linda Jerome is a double major in biological sciences with a human biology emphasis and psychology from Mountain House.
During her time on campus, she founded the UC Merced chapter of VIDA Volunteer, an international pre-health service-learning program. As the organization’s president, she arranged a medical service trip for over 20 student volunteers and the chapter assisted over 500 patients who didn’t have proper access to health care in underserved regions of Costa Rica and Guatemala. She also served as the former president of the campus’s Catholic Newman Club and a STEM Center biology tutor. She was a member of the Archery Club, and she studied abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, for one semester.
Jerome was a student researcher in Professor Bin Liu’s lab and also was part of the Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines C-SIP summer fellowship program on campus.
She aspires to be a physician and plans to apply to medical schools.
STUDENT SPEAKER
Angel Nechikat
Angel Nechikat is a management and business economics major from Sunnyvale.
While at UC Merced, she was a member of the Business Society. She served as an Associated Students at UC Merced senator for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts and on the executive board for Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
Nechikat also served as the 2023-23 undergraduate student representative for the Undergraduate Council.
