She was carefree and confident. She dressed as she pleased, often in clothing from far-flung continents. She wore her hair in a long, white braid or coiled atop her head with combs, adorned with accessories from her many travels. Eccentric in the best way, Loda Mae Davis was special. And she had a distinctive way of making others feel special too.

Davis graduated from UC Berkeley with honors in 1923. She went on to receive a master’s degree in business and a junior college credential in 1932. Before she came to UC Riverside in 1953 as the dean of women, Davis traveled extensively in Asia, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Panama, and Russia. She served as an assistant professor of psychology at UCR until her retirement in 1964 and lived in Riverside until her death in 1989.

After a life well spent traveling, teaching, and inspiring others, The Dean Emerita Loda Mae Davis Endowed Scholarship Fund was established in 1982, and then became fully endowed through a bequest from her estate. The fund supports undergraduate students with high academic achievement and financial need, and has awarded more than $400,000 to nearly 200 students since its inception.

Judith “Judy” Neveau ’64, the president of Associated Women Students at UCR during Davis’ tenure, described Davis as a respected mentor and intense listener, always interested in what students had to say.

“She was confident in her own skin, minced no words and spoke her mind, and she seemed to ‘walk the walk’ in a nonconfrontational way,” Neveau said. “For me, and for a number of my friends at UCR, she modeled the virtue of being yourself comfortably.”

Neveau fondly recalled Davis periodically inviting a small group of young women campus leaders to her home. Beyond the confines of a classroom, there was much to learn and share. Davis would serve exotic tea, tell stories from her youth and travels, and encourage candid discussion on topics far and wide, all while her guests fascinated over items she’d collected from around the world.

Among treasures Davis gifted her over the years, Neveau cherishes a one-eyed black felt doll and a small, bejeweled, and beautifully crafted pipe, which she can only guess may have hailed from Russia. Though she muses at the history the trinkets must hold, she says it comes as no surprise that Davis would leave her estate to benefit UCR students. This she knows for sure: Davis gave gifts to hundreds of students far beyond the value of travel souvenirs, and her generosity continues to inspire others to be curious and confident in pursuit of dreams that will take them wherever they wish to go.

And so, the legacy of Loda Mae Davis continues on.