Inside Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, professor emeritus Mary Ann Morris especially enjoys the classical music programs.

Outside the center, she enjoys the park across the way, especially the fountain that university officials hope to see completed by the first week of September. The fountain is named in memory of her parents, Madison and Nora Morris, and an aunt, Zoa Morris-Lycan, all of whom lived in the Los Angeles area, where Mary Ann Morris was born and raised.

Morris was a professor of textiles and clothing from 1962 to 1987, and an early member of an organization that became known as Friends of UC Davis Presents, precursor of today's Friends of Mondavi Center.

Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, while watching the fountain construction on July 27, praised Morris for her generosity and patience, the latter a reference to her long wait for the fountain.

Morris was among the earliest supporters of UC Davis' Center for the Arts Campaign, which led to Mondavi Center's construction. The center opened in October 2002, but without the planned fountain in the entry park.

As part of the fund-raising campaign, the university offered naming rights for certain elements of the center and park. Morris, a $500,000 donor, chose to attach her family name to the fountain.

"I really wanted one of the outdoor things," she said. The fountain and its garden setting appealed to her because she is a gardener herself, like others in her family, particularly her aunt Zoa. The fountain's official name is the Morris Fountain — In Memory of Madison and Nora Morris and Zoa Morris-Lycan.

The park and fountain complement Mondavi Center's mission. The fountain's rectangular pool sits like a stage at the foot of a grassy bowl. Curved, brick walls, wide enough to sit on, line the terraces around the "stage." A "curtain" of water will fall from a crossbeam that spans two concrete columns rising from the pool. Four poles hold spotlights like you see in a theatre.

"I think the fountain is going to be a very special feature of the park, and Professor Morris saw that from the very beginning," Vanderhoef said as he watched workers put up the crossbeam. He said the park and fountain "help give Mondavi Center an even better feeling of elegance."

Thousands of children have an opportunity to visit the park each year when they come to Mondavi Center for matinees.

"When the kids arrive early, and the weather is nice, they play there before the performance," Morris said. "And afterward they bring their lunches to the park."

Morris, an advocate of arts education, said the "performance" park and its fountain add something extra to the children's visits, contributing to young people's interest in music, dance and theatre.