Berkeley gets $113M to endow 100 chairs

? The University of California, Berkeley, announced a $113 million donation Monday from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, intended to stanch the departure of top-flight professors to wealthy, private schools.

The gift, largest in campus history, would create 100 new endowed chairs on campus, a crucial tool in retaining star professors.

Berkeley, a state school, has struggled to keep up with wealthy private rivals backed by fast-growing endowments.

Berkeley had an endowment of $2.5 billion as of the 2006 fiscal year; Harvard’s current endowment is about $35 billion.

Between 2000 and 2006, 236 Berkeley professors got outside job offers, mostly from elite private schools. The campus was able to keep 162 professors, but only through extraordinary efforts that can’t be sustained long-term, Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau said.