Undergraduate Education
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Transfer Day 2025: Welcoming future Banana Slugs
More than 2,000 admitted transfer students and their families attended Transfer Day 2025 at UC Santa Cruz. The event featured a keynote by alumna Reyna Grande, campus tours, resource fairs, and sessions to help students explore life as a future Banana Slug.
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A Day to Say Yes: Admitted students find belonging on Banana Slug Day
Banana Slug Day welcomed more than 6,500 admitted students and guests to UC Santa Cruz for a celebration of academics, community, and student life. From mock lectures to cherry blossom selfies, the event helped students imagine their future as Banana Slugs.
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Kenny Farrell and the making of a 50-year-old UC Santa Cruz steel icon
In 1974, Vietnam veteran and art student Kenny Farrell created a bold steel sculpture that became an enduring symbol of UC Santa Cruz. Fifty years later, his untitled structure still stands in the Porter meadow—iconic, untamed, and uniquely Santa Cruz.
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Porter College’s EnCore celebrates student voices and vision
Each year, Porter College hosts EnCore, a culminating exhibition of student projects from Porter 1, the college’s core course. The event features multimedia art and handmade books exploring identity, community, and creative expression. Select works are added to the university’s special collections library.
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UC Santa Cruz colleges awarded planning grant from Teagle Foundation
The UC Santa Cruz colleges have been awarded a $25,000 planning grant from the Teagle Foundation to enhance liberal education for all students using equity-minded, high-impact practices. Specifically, the project will develop a common reading list of transformative texts and common experiences that all UC Santa Cruz first-year students will share.
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A living legacy of student creativity and activism
The Merrill Moat—a stretch of concrete connecting residential buildings covered in colorful murals and student artwork—is a living monument to student creativity, past and present. The Moat isn’t just a pretty addition to Merrill College’s landscape; it’s an interactive community art project rooted in the college’s history and commitment to promoting student activism.
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Merrill College courses offer opportunity to learn about Africa, develop global connections
Merrill is offering two Global Classrooms, courses developed with the support of the Global Engagement Division that involve online collaboration between students from UCSC and the Co-Operative University of Kenya.