Donors & Philanthropy

In 1988, a 90-year-old alumna and former faculty member gave $648,000 to UC Davis to establish an endowment that would fund plant research fellowships in perpetuity. Still driving discovery today, her gift demonstrates the power of an endowment to benefit the world for generations.

Katherine Esau Ph.D. ’31 is widely known as one of the most influential plant biologists and professors in history. Esau’s pioneering work on plant anatomy and structure laid the groundwork for much of today’s research in the field—and her impact on campus reaches even further.

Sēvā (ਸੇਵਾ), a Punjabi word that means “service,” was the motivation behind alumni couple Kamaljeet “Kamal” Singh-Khaira and Dr. Ravinder “Ravi” Khaira’s recent $1 million gift to the College of Biological Sciences.

The Khairas’ gift will provide support for the college’s top priorities, and they feel confident in the leadership of Mark Winey, dean of the College of Biological Sciences, to best utilize the funding to further enhance student success initiatives, faculty excellence and advances in life sciences research.

Donors unlocked a new level of charitable giving to the University of California, Davis, in the last fiscal year, pushing the total past the $300 million mark for the first time in the university’s history — and beating it by a wide margin.

Financials announced in September show the university raised $323 million in 2021-22, in 58,556 gifts and pledges from 32,434 donors.

Plants aren't passive. Though we step on grass, brush against branches and pick petals, plants aren't just immobile organisms. And no one knows this better than Tim Metcalf, the director emeritus of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory.

"They have their own personality," said Metcalf, who was initially hired as a laboratory assistant at the conservatory back in 1971. "Plants do crazy things and they surprise you." 

The Center for Neuroscience recently announced two new funds, the Karen Sigvardt, Ph.D. Neuroscience Award and the Karen Sigvardt, Ph.D. Neuroscience Fellowship.

The award and fellowship were established in October 2021 and endowed through a generous gift from Audrey Webb, in loving memory of her late partner Karen Sigvardt, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Neurology in the School of Medicine and a valued core member of the Center for Neuroscience and the greater neuroscience community at UC Davis.

When it comes to education in the biological sciences, applied learning like undergraduate research is integral to the assimilation of knowledge. Through experiences in the laboratory, students acquire new skills and reinforce learnings from the lecture hall, taking techniques from the page to the pipette and laying the foundation on which they’ll build the rest of their careers.

For some students, undergraduate research experiences may seem out of reach, but philanthropy can help provide the resources they need to participate in such important educational endeavors.

Take off your shoes and socks, the guest speaker asked 10 students in a recent class of the BioLaunch “Career Lab” at UC Davis.

“I was a little surprised,” laughed Madison Sainte-Agathe, who is majoring in molecular and medical microbiology.

Under the guidance of UC Davis Assistant Athletic Trainer Lisa Varnum, the students teamed up to examine how ankle muscles work, practiced wrapping simulated injuries and developed rehabilitation plans.

Earlier this week, UC Davis named a new class of Chancellor’s Fellows — faculty members who will carry the chancellor’s imprimatur for five years in recognition of their outstanding work in academia.

“These 12 newest fellows represent our university at its very best,” Chancellor Gary S. May said. “They are now part of a proud 22-year history for the Chancellor’s Fellows program. These fellows are making advances that help solve complex and critical issues, while also helping our students become critical thinkers and problem-solvers.”

The University of California, Davis, is embarking on a major initiative to make career exploration and preparation accessible to all students as a matter of equity and social justice.

Through Aggie Launch, the university aims to foster opportunities so that all graduates — including those who are from low-income families, underrepresented minorities, first-generation college students and women — can experience meaningful, timely and gainful employment.

Just outside a classroom in the Sciences Laboratory Building is an engraved sign that reads “McNamee Biochemistry Lab.”

The classroom is one of the College of Biological Sciences’ undergraduate biochemistry teaching labs, where upper-division biochemistry students learn the fundamentals of conducting experiments in a laboratory setting. The sign just outside its door refers to Mark and Carole McNamee, who recently made a $100,000 gift to name the classroom in support of future generations of scientists.