A former student who passed away last year included the gift in his will. Jessie Ann Owens, the dean of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies, says they’ll use the money to recruit promising new student artists.

"You know, it’s hard to compete with places like Rhode Island School of Design or Yale and Stanford, places that are private with big endowments and so this just is a huge benefit for us at UC Davis."

The $1 million comes from the estate of Freemond Gadberry, a 1967 alumnus. He taught fine arts at a high school in Napa.