On the 10-year-old UC Merced campus, Tamela Adkins is as veteran as they come.

The emergency preparedness manager was among the first employees at the newest UC campus when it opened its doors on Sept. 5, 2005. Last month, the 53-year-old became one of its oldest students to be awarded an undergraduate degree.

It was a journey that began almost by accident.

In the state of Tigray in northern Ethiopia, poverty and unemployment were rampant and very few had the fortune to go to college. But Getahun Weldeselassie nevertheless banked on education as his best shot at a better life.

He scarcely could have imagined just how far his ambition and luck would take him.

Last month, Weldeselassie completed the doctor of pharmacy at UCSF. Now a U.S. resident who lives in San Francisco with his wife and young son, he looks forward to a career that offers personal satisfaction while providing a stable livelihood for himself and his family.

Graduation is always joyful, but for UC Riverside’s Cassie Nguyen, it marks a milestone achieved with an especially large measure of persistence and hope.

Nguyen, who will receive her bachelor’s degree in public policy from UC Riverside on June 14, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor at 16. Treatment has cleared her of the disease, but it has not been an easy ride.

Andre Theus will don his cap and gown June 13 at UC Santa Barbara with a list of accomplishments that includes lobbying in Washington and Sacramento, leadership in student government, and numerous honors and awards. Perhaps best of all, he graduates with a job in business development waiting for him at Oracle in San Francisco.

It’s a record worthy of pride for any student. But as a former foster youth, his prospects might have been very different.

As UC's newly minted grads look forward to embarking on a bright new chapter, we profile a few whose extraordinary grit and determination brought them to the place they are today.

First group of UC Global Food Initiative fellows at UC Santa Barbara is studying food waste on campus, food insecurity among students.

Underdog status doesn't stop engineering students from entering global design competition.

With support from the UC Global Food Initiative, this year’s CITRIS Mobile App Challenge added a new dimension: finding ways to nutritiously and sustainably feed people.

The students in the UndocuBruins program say it creates a space where undocumented students’ goals are valued.

The Board of Regents will vote on the recommendation at its July meeting; if approved, Marcela Ramirez will become the 42nd student regent since the position was established in 1975.

Scholarship endowment has already raised more than $4 million for students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

UC Irvine alumnus Ian Daelucian launches The Heart of Delight to nurture those in need.