In the first quarter of the 2004-05 fiscal year, donors gave $17.4 million in private gifts and grants to UC Davis, almost $5 million more than the same period one year ago. Between July 1 and September 30, 6,742 donors made gifts, including three of $1.5 million that support cancer research, transplant research and soil science. Highlights include:

• A $1.5 million pledge from Ralph W. Albrecht, Sr. to establish an endowed chair in the UC Davis Health System's Cancer Center;
• A $1.5 million gift from the Fred and Pat Anderson Family to establish an endowed chair in transplant research at the School of Medicine;
• A $1.5 million pledge from the James G. Boswell Foundation to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences to establish an endowed chair in soil science;
• A $300,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to the Department of Anthropology, College of Letters and Science, to support the creation of the first-ever Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures;
• Gifts totaling $192,000 from the SBC Foundation, through the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships, to the School of Education and the Office of Student Affairs to support initiatives of GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), which helps youth from low-income communities prepare for college;
• A $135,000 grant from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to the Division of Biological Sciences to support breast cancer-related research in the Department of Microbiology;
• A $125,000 gift from Kathy Cromwell to support research at the Center for Equine Health in the School of Veterinary Medicine
• A $125,000 gift from the Satre Fund to the School of Law;
• A grant of $90,000 from Jeffrey V. Allgeier '77, to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, to help support research in real-time streaming wireless multimedia;
• Gifts totaling $80,000 from the ARCS Foundation to support graduate students in eight academic programs; and
• A $50,000 pledge from novelist John Lescroart and his family to establish a fiction prize and a creative writing conference in the Department of English.

Gifts and grants support groundbreaking faculty research and help provide financial assistance to students. For example, the $1.5 million gift from the Anderson family will support the work of Transplant Research Program Director Mark A. Zern, who is engaged in research that could reduce the need for liver and kidney disease and improve quality of life for patients awaiting transplants or new treatments.

Pat Anderson decided to support the program after UCDMC surgeons performed a liver transplant on her son, Jim. Before a liver was found, Jim's older brother, John, volunteered to donate half of his own liver to save his brother's life.

"This research can benefit thousands of lives worldwide, and it gives be great joy to be able to support this work," she says.