Font Resize"The community has understood the significance of public as well as private support for the university," said Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, who detailed the contributions during a start-of-school briefing with media.
Contributions during the 2004-05 fiscal year, which ended June 30, ranged from $40 million from Hong Kong philanthropist Li Ka-shing — the campus's largest international donation — to an anonymous $25 million gift for capital projects and a $16 million contribution from alumnus Col. Charles Travers.
In all, 54,128 donors, including alumni, parents and friends, contributed to the campus. Donations were up almost 83 percent.
Birgeneau said the campus will soon announce a number of significant new donations in a variety of areas, including one "comparable" to Li Ka-shing's gift, although Birgeneau provided few specifics, saying some details are being worked out.
The university's total operating budget is $1.4 billion.
Also this year, UC Berkeley is welcoming one of its largest freshman classes in campus history. An estimated 4,030 freshmen enrolled in the fall, up about 350 students from last year, when enrollments were curtailed by state budget cuts.
Enrollments of African-American
Birgeneau has identified one of his main priorities as increasing the enrollment of underrepresented students, and he hopes to see "significant progress" over the next several years from a number of new initiatives, including focusing university resources on academic outreach programs.
The campus this year is also a partner at North Oakland college-preparatory charter school CAL Prep.
Contact Michelle Maitre at mmaitre@angnewspapers.com.
