Donors shower UC San Diego with record $261 million in gifts
UC San Diego raised $261 million in private donations over the past year, breaking the previous mark by nearly $49 million as the school begins one of the largest expansions in campus history.

UC San Diego raised $261 million in private donations over the past year, breaking the previous mark by nearly $49 million as the school begins one of the largest expansions in campus history.

The university has generated about $950 million through the midway point of a $2 billion, 10-year capital campaign.

The campaign is helping to fuel historic growth. The campus has added about 6,700 students since 2012, and will add another 4,000 within the next few years, pushing enrollment past 40,000.

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The campus will begin the fall quarter on Sept. 25 with an estimated 36,400 students, which would be a record.

“We’ve gotten better at raising money because we’re telling our story better,” said Pradeep K. Khosla, the university’s chancellor. “My goal is to raise $350 million in a single year by the time the campaign ends.”

The campus works on a fiscal year that ends on June 30.

Khosla said he is particularly proud of a $10.5 million gift that the university received from the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation of Switzerland. The money will be used to study the composition of human breast milk, which isn’t fully understood even though its known to be a great source of nutrition for newborns, infants and premature babies.

UC San Diego also received $70 million last year from the Tata Trusts of Mumbai to help explore ways to use gene editing to fight insect-borne diseases and make crops more resistant to drought. About half of that money will be spent in La Jolla. The other $35 million will be devoted to a similar program in India that UC San Diego will help shape.

The campus will have to continue raising large sums to underwrite an expansion that includes major new classroom and laboratory buildings, and thousands of units of student housing.

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gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com