A pledge of more than $24 million from philanthropist Maria Manetti Shrem to fund an arts renaissance was the largest ever to the College of Letters and Science and largest to the arts in UC Davis history. Funding eight endowments for arts and design, including three new faculty chairs, Manetti Shrem’s gift is propelling campus creativity to new heights and furthering her longstanding philanthropic partnership with the university and arts education.

Along with Manetti Shrem’s gift, arts saw a new light during the campaign. In 2023, the renovated Gorman Museum for Native American Art opened its doors, revealing 4,000 square feet of brand-new gallery space for contemporary Indigenous and Native American art on campus.

Endowed chairs and professorships are another hallmark of the College of Letters and Science, which established 14 new endowed faculty positions during the campaign that elevate interdisciplinary research and world-class teaching. One such chair, created in 2021 by alumni Lois and Darryl Goss, is a presidential chair in African American and African studies that provides sustained funding for teaching, research, and outreach about the history and culture of communities of African descent around the world.

Image

Continuing the college’s breadth of excellence, donors supported a wide variety of areas that elevated teaching and research—from student support like the Beyond the Classroom fund that provides students with hands-on learning opportunities, to innovative research initiatives like the Global Tea Institute that serves as the world’s first center for the interdisciplinary study of tea.