UC Davis is planning a new "welcome mat" — one that would stretch 1½ miles along the entire length of the arboretum and its waterway — to mark the campus's new front door off Interstate 80.

"The arboretum is one of the only places where people feel comfortable just walking in," said Kathleen Socolofsky, arboretum director.

And if the arboretum is what draws people in, then why not use it to encourage them to venture even deeper onto campus to learn about UC Davis and all it has to offer?

"The arboretum is this great point of connection," said Bob Segar, assistant vice chancellor for campus planning, who helped Socolofsky and others come up with a concept they call Arboretum GATEways — with GATE standing for Gardens, Arts and The Environment.

The planners see three GATEways in the arboretum: City Arts at the east end, Discovery at the west end, and the University GATEway between them.

The concept melds garden development into the university's academic mission. Provost Virginia Hinshaw, based on the recommendation of the GATEways Task Force led by plant pathology professor Pamela Ronald, faculty assistant to the provost, already provided about $500,000 for pilot projects and programs. They include the Art-Science Fusion Program, already up and running, and the Native American Heritage Garden.

The arboretum and the Office of Resource Management and Planning are putting up money for a detailed plan for Phase 1, the City Arts GATEway.

"We hope this commitment by campus will be a strong selling point as we go about enlisting external support," Socolofsky said, who added that planners hope to see Phase 1 under development by the fall. A 10-year timeline is estimated for the entire project.

Some of the work would be built into landscaping plans for other projects. For example, a food and wine garden is planned as part of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. The community would be asked to help build other elements, like the welcome garden near downtown Davis.

The genesis of the project lies in the arboretum's popularity and location, and, as entomology professor Diane Ullman put it, "a desire to help visitors connect the arboretum to the surrounding buildings and the work that goes on inside them."

The answer lies within the GATEway plan. For example, imagine a geology garden next to a geology building next to the arboretum, within the University GATEway.

Or an arts walk and an amphitheater in the City Arts GATEway, where the arboretum meanders amid the art and music buildings, ceramic arts studio, Main Theatre and Wyatt Pavilion.

The City Arts GATEway also would connect with Davis city streets. A welcome area would be located at the east end of the arboretum, connecting it with downtown.

"This transformative vision will allow us to make our outstanding programs accessible to the public in a new and innovative way," said Jim MacDonald, executive associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The plan's most ambitious element is the Arboretum Discovery GATEway, where planners envision the Arboretum Discovery Center and the GATEways Learning Institute. They would be built along Old Davis Road just off Interstate 80 at the south edge of the main campus.

Hinshaw said she sees the arboretum more as a "regional connector" than a front door. "I believe GATEways will enhance the opportunity for even more people to experience UC Davis as their university."

Originally, Socolofsky and Segar had been on parallel tracks, with Socolofsky leading the arboretum's 10-year plan and Segar developing the south entry "front door."

The south entry became the home of the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center 15 years ago, and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts five years ago. The Robert Mondavi Institute is under construction, and a hotel-conference center and new Graduate School of Management are nearing the building stage.

"We've been intentionally building a new campus front door for 10 years, so it's a natural to feature the arboretum as a centerpiece," Segar said.

Meanwhile, Socolofsky began collaborating with Ullman, associate dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and Cary Trexler, an assistant professor of education, to better integrate the arboretum into the campus's academic mission.

Trexler, who has an interest in experiential education, said he hopes to see the arboretum used more as a teaching space where students can collaborate on a variety of projects. "Education is enhanced when people work in teams toward tangible results," he said.

For example, Art Science Fusion Program students worked in the arboretum in the fall and winter quarters of 2006-07, creating first a science-themed mosaic and then a mural.

Trexler said he is certain "those students will come back to visit that artwork in the years to come, and they will bring their children."

But while Trexler, Ullman and Socolofsky saw the arboretum's potential as an educational asset for the entire university, Segar saw the impact it could bring to the campus front door.

"Bob helped us connect the dots," Trexler said, figuring out how to connect the physical space of the arboretum and the university's educational programming.

The connections are meant to invite and encourage people to explore the campus's academic side. For example, a children's garden is planned near the Child and Family Studies Building, and a watershed sciences garden is planned near the Center for Watershed Sciences.

"A network of paths will connect visitors with educational landscapes, public art, outreach centers and the campus visitor destinations along the arboretum," the planners wrote in a document that went out to landscape architects.

The paths "will link with central campus through the proposed garden walks and other open space connections."

The GATEways framework plan also shows sustainable gardens and research demonstration gardens, a wetlands restoration area and a Putah Creek riparian reserve link, plus a teaching nursery and an urban horticulture center.

For even deeper connections between UC Davis and the public, Trexler spoke of a "center for engagement," that, in the planning process became a two-building center: the Arboretum Discovery Center and the GATEways Learning Institute.

The former would comprise a visitors center, nature center and a place for innovative learning — a place where busloads of schoolchildren could come for field trips.

The GATEways Learning Institute would link undergraduate learning and educational innovation, where faculty members could receive assistance in using the arboretum in their courses.

School of Education Dean Harold Levine said: "In very tangible and transformative ways, this project strengthens the School of Education's commitment to connect the university's work to the greater education community and to influence teaching and learning inside and outside the university."