Professor Amy Herr, right, helped Oski try on virtual-reality glasses on Saturday's campaign launch event. (UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser)
March 2, 2020
Eric Stern, second from left, and Rachel Stern, far left, carry lanterns as they leave Saturday's event launching UC Berkeley’s landmark $6 billion “Light the Way” fundraising campaign. (UC Berkeley photo by Brittany Hosea-Small)
Professor Amy Herr, right, helped Oski try on virtual-reality glasses on Saturday's campaign launch event. (UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser)
UC Berkeley students led the crowd in cheers and showed off the Stanford Axe, which is awarded to the winner of the annual Big Game versus Stanford. Berkeley won the axe in 2019 for the first time since 2009. (UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser)
Maz Jobrani, UC Berkeley alumnus and emcee of Saturday's campaign launch event, speaks to the crowd of alumni, dignitaries, faculty and campus administrators. (UC Berkeley photo by Brittany Hosea-Small)
Professors Robert Reich, right, and Arlie Hochschild speak to the crowd of alumni and other dignitaries at Saturday's campaign launch event. (UC Berkeley photo by Brittany Hosea-Small)
Two attendees stand with Oski at Saturday's campaign launch event. (UC Berkeley photo by Brittany Hosea-Small)
Two Berkeley Nobel laureates, Saul Perlmutter, left, and Randy Schekman, right, pose with their medals and the Stanford Axe. (UC Berkeley photo by Lara Larsen)
Dana Vollmer, left, seven-time Olympic medalist and UC Berkeley alumna, showed off her gold medals to two attendees of Saturday's campaign launch event. (UC Berkeley photo by Lara Larsen)
Gordon Rausser directs the Cal Band at Saturday's campaign launch event. The Rausser College of Natural Resources has been renamed to honor a $50 million gift from the former dean of the school. (UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser)
Professors Randy Schekman, left, stands with Chancellor Carol Christ, center, and event emcee and Berkeley alumnus Maz Jobrani. (UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser)
In 2020, the Cal Band helped alumni and other friends of the university kick off UC Berkeley’s landmark $6 billion “Light the Way” fundraising campaign. (UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser)
Saturday's campaign launch event was held at Memorial Stadium. (UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser)
UC Berkeley on Saturday publicly launched the largest fundraising campaign in its history, to raise $6 billion by the end of 2023.
The ambitious goal aims to secure UC Berkeley’s status as the world’s top public research and teaching university. The Light the Way: The Campaign for Berkeley, has already raised $3.4 billion since its quiet phase began Jan. 1, 2014.
In announcing the campaign, Chancellor Carol Christ said proceeds will do much more than “simply sustain the status quo.”
“I am thrilled that we are now on the way to providing students with more housing, scholarships and modern academic facilities, even as we expand the ranks of faculty and develop new learning and experiential opportunities,” she said. “As our students benefit, so does the public we serve at a time when Berkeley’s societal and academic role has never been more important.”