Other Recent Gifts Benefit Programs Across Campus
A $15 million gift to the campus to advance a program with far-ranging implications for the future--the creation of entirely new materials for industry and medicine--has been received from Gordon E. Moore, founder and chair of Intel Corp., and his wife, Betty.
The gift helped lift the total to a record $70 million for the first six months of the fiscal year. Among many other recent gifts were those to the taekwando martial arts program, the Young Musicians Program, East Asian Library and Studies Center and the Graduate School of Journalism.
The Moores' gift is earmarked for the campus's "New Materials Initiative," a program that will harness the work of the world's top physicists, chemists and engineers, leading to the creation of new materials of all types.
"As a Cal alumnus, I'm proud to give to this exciting area of research with tremendous promise for society, technology and the California economy," said Moore, who is often considered the father of Silicon Valley. "The visions that have made California great must continue to be carried out in the future, and in new materials research, Berkeley offers one of the world's best environments for discovery."
"This generous gift confirms the confidence placed in Berkeley by our state's most visionary business leaders," said Chancellor Tien. "The fruits of Berkeley's new materials research will have a profound and positive impact on many aspects of the California economy."
The work to be supported by the Moore gift is among the most complex being undertaken at any university. Its goal is to develop stronger, lighter, smaller and longer-lasting materials than any ever known.
The "New Materials Initiative" has a goal of raising $83 million for new and renovated teaching and research space. The initiative is one of the highest priorities in its upcoming capital campaign.
$1 Million From Korea
A $1 million pledge from the Korean Ministry of Culture and Sports will help Taekwondo, a martial art, philosophy and cultural tradition, gain wider attention in the United States.
Income from the gift will help ensure Berkeley's leading position in martial arts education in the United States. No other university in the United States has ever raised such an endowment.
The gift, formally called the Ken Min Endowed Directorship for Taekwondo and the Martial Arts, honors the man who began the campus's taekwondo program in 1969.
"Many of my students have gone on to be successful in their chosen fields, and they often write back to tell me that the philosophy of taekwondo has helped them in their pursuits," said Min, now director of Berkeley's Martial Arts Program and a member of the Human Biodynamics faculty.
Currently, 1,000 students a year participate in the Martial Arts Program on the Berkeley campus, taking classes and competing on teams. The university also hosts the UC Open Taekwondo Championship every year.
"At its root, the endowment supports instruction in physical education that is academically oriented and not competitively oriented," said Timothy White, former professor and chair of Human Biodynamics. "There is cultural learning that goes on in this sport, as well. Students, themselves from many cultures, are not only learning taekwondo, they're learning culture, language and knowledge of an Asian tradition."
Hewlett Gift Honors Heyns
The Young Musicians Program Endowment is the recipient of a special gift from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which has awarded a special gift to establish the Roger W. and Esther Heyns Scholarship Fund.
The $250,000 gift is in memory of the late Roger Heyns, who served as Berkeley's chancellor from 1965 to 1971. He died in September at age 77.
A tireless advocate for strengthening undergraduate education, he led the way in extending educational opportunities for disadvantaged students. He established the Young Musicians Program in 1968 and it remains one of the campus's most successful outreach programs.
The program serves exceptionally gifted elementary and secondary students from low-income families, providing them professional musical training on a full scholarship.
With a recent gift from the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, and gifts from many other friends in Heyns' memory, the newly established endowment totals more than $355,000.
East Asian Library Start
The Starr Foundation of New York recently donated $6 million to Berkeley's planned East Asian Library and Studies Center. It is the first major gift toward the $35 million project, which will provide an unparalleled facility in the United States in East Asian studies.
When complete, the building will serve as the principal resource for East Asian research and teaching at all nine UC campuses.
The building, planned adjacent to the new Memorial Glade, will draw together the Institute of East Asian Studies and the Department of East Asian Languages. The East Asian Library will also put under a single roof all of Berkeley's priceless collections in these fields.
The McClatchy Wing
Meanwhile, McClatchy Newspapers, Inc., owners of the Sacramento Bee and other newspapers, is helping the Graduate School of Journalism restore and refurbish a major portion of its landmark North Gate Hall thanks to a $250,000 challenge grant.
The renovated portion of the building will be named the C.K. McClatchy Wing, in honor of the late editor and chair of the Sacramento Bee. Under the terms of the gift, the school must match the grant. The gift allows the school to upgrade facilities in this wing, including radio and photography laboratories and a communications hub.