The gift, made anonymously, will allow the university to start building the Data Hub on the north side of campus.
Another $300 million in donations will be needed to complete the building, which will house the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society that teaches an increasing number of students across a variety of majors. More than 6,000 of the university’s 31,000 undergraduate students take data science classes each year.
“The Data Hub will be a magnet, bringing together scholars from disciplines across campus to forge new collaborations and take on some of the most critical questions facing society today, from biomedicine, to climate change and sustainability, to making data-informed public policy on issues of societal significance,” said Jennifer Chayes, associate provost for Data Science and dean of the School of Information.
The donation comes as the university kicks off an ambitious effort to raise $6 billion by the end of 2023. University officials say it’s one of the biggest fundraising efforts by any public university, and is needed to maintain the campus’ top academic rating and programs as state support shrinks to 14 percent of its budget.
Cal used to receive 50 percent to 70 percent of its budget from the state, and it used donations to fund “nice-to-haves, the extra embellishments not necessarily provided by state funding," said Chancellor Carol Christ.
“Now we are raising funds for our core needs and activities, for the heart and soul of the university and all that sets Berkeley apart from the crowd,” she said. “It may seem ironic, but it is the support from private sources that helps us to secure and sustain our public character, which is stronger than ever.”
The Data Hub will house classrooms and offices and also may include robotics and artificial intelligence laboratories, research centers, public gathering areas and a large auditorium.
“Berkeley faculty and students are advancing the foundations of computing and data science at a rapid pace, while harnessing these tools to revolutionize biomedicine, engineering, environmental science and other critical disciplines,” Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Alivisatos said. “The Data Hub will become the space where all these efforts intersect.”
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