$10 Million from Maurice J. Jr. and Marcia Gallagher to Support UC Davis Graduate School of Management.
Gift is Largest from a UC Davis Alumnus to Campus
DAVIS, Calif. -- Maurice J. Gallagher Jr., majority owner, president and CEO of the Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Company, has pledged $10 million to UC Davis, the largest gift ever made to the campus by a UC Davis graduate. Gallagher and his wife, Marcia, said they hope their gift will help further the entrepreneurial spirit at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, regarded today as one of the nation's best MBA programs.
The gift will support the Graduate School of Management's planned new building and establish an endowment for the school. The building will be named Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Hall.
"Business schools today are in a highly competitive market to attract the best students," said Gallagher, who earned his undergraduate degree in history from UC Davis in 1971 and later received an MBA from UC Berkeley from what is now the Haas School of Business.
"The UC Davis Graduate School of Management already is ranked among the best MBA programs in the country. But to move into the elite tier, you have to have a world-class facility. I think the location, benefits and design of this new building, combined with the leadership of the faculty, will enable the school to jump up to that higher level over the next 10 to 15 years."
The new three-story, 40,000-square-foot Gallagher Hall will be located across from the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, and will be part of a new main entrance to campus that will eventually include a hotel, conference center and art museum.
Gallagher cited the Graduate School of Management's ingenuity and sense of community, together with his own "terrific memories" from his undergraduate years at UC Davis, as the main motivations for his gift. Gallagher served on the management school's advisory board in the early 1990s, has been a guest speaker in graduate business courses and was the school's commencement keynote speaker in 2000.
"Maury Gallagher is a savvy and experienced entrepreneur," said Nicole Woolsey Biggart, dean of the management school. "His investment, support and vision mean a great deal to the school and to UC Davis. It affirms that we are doing good things here, and gives us the means to do even more."
