CALIFORNIA ? Nearly two decades after it was approved, the University of California system’s 10th campus officially opened Monday.

Addressing about 4,000 dignitaries, community members, parents and students gathered to celebrate the opening with a formal convocation, UC Merced Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey acknowledged the many delays and problems that for a while had seemed to bedevil the campus.

Throughout the two-hour opening ceremony the chancellor and others spoke of the challenges they faced in establishing the new campus, including increased environmental regulations, political travails and a state budget crisis.

Set in rolling grasslands about five miles north of this community, UC Merced is the first major American research university to be built this century and the first University of California campus to open in 40 years.