What can our new resources do for Caltech?

By David Baltimore

Caltech has received the largest gift in the history of higher education, and not surprisingly the various constituents on the campus have been wondering how it will affect them. Although we do not have all of the answers, it seems a good idea to present our thinking thus far. By “our,” I mean the administration’s thinking, but it incorporates ideas from all over the campus gleaned in a four-year process of future-gazing. Establishing priorities involves difficult choices and changing perspectives, so this should be considered a status report of an ongoing process.

It is first important to recognize that the gift promised by Gordon and Betty Moore and the Moore Foundation was made as a lead gift for a campaign. This campaign will kick off in October 2002, and, being in the gestation stage, has not been formally announced. Over some five years, it will bring in significantly more than the already-impressive $600 million Moore gift.

The core of Caltech is its research. Much of the activity of faculty, staff, and students focuses on research. Thus, it is appropriate that the largest impact of the Moore gift be on research. The $600 million Moore gift includes $300 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to be given over 10 years, and much of that will be for equipment, materials, and people for innovative research proposals from across the campus. Structural chemistry, nanotechnology, cognitive science, and astronomy are all areas where we hope to provide support soon. The first application will go to the foundation in January. A good fraction of the Moores’ personal gift of $300 million, and we hope many of the campaign gifts, will go to increasing Caltech’s endowment, a buttress for all of our activities. Our new resources will also allow us to modernize our facilities for science and teaching through new building as well as extensive renovations. These will benefit all divisions. One research building we want to move ahead rapidly is an astrophysics building, for which we have a lead gift.

The other key part of Caltech’s activities is education. We have not invested in a major way in student housing and activities in the last few years, and we consider the campaign an opportunity to meet some student needs. Students have been asking for recognition of their concerns, and we have been listening. Two large projects are planned. One is a major renovation of student housing, which could even involve replacing the North Houses. A second is building a campus center that will provide better facilities for musical activities and altering Ramo Auditorium to make it a better theater venue. We are talking with students to consider other steps that the administration can take that would benefit the undergraduates more quickly.

Institutions are really about people, and the Moore gift should make it easier for us to continue to attract the best people. We get remarkable undergraduates—but we need to be certain that every student we want can afford to come to Caltech. Graduate students deserve a clear guarantee of support over their years at Caltech and should not be so dependent on research grants, especially in their first year. We benefit greatly from visitors, and will use some of the money to continue the program of Moore Visiting Scholars, funded up to now from yearly gifts by Dr. Moore. We do not plan to increase the size of our faculty more than marginally—we would rather concentrate our resources on the existing faculty. Thus resources to help faculty expand the directions of their research into new areas will be made available.

If the campaign is successful, it will be transformational over the next decade, providing Caltech with new facilities, new support for research activities, and a more stable financial base than it has enjoyed in decades. Not everything we want to do will be possible, but the Moore gift provides a strong foundation on which we will continue to build.
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