EDUCATION WATCH : Nobel Campus

Author John McPhee once wrote of the “bonsai” campus of the California Institute of Technology, by way, no doubt, of contrasting compact Caltech with some of its sprawling neighbors in education in Southern California.

But as Caltech continues to invite inspection during its centennial year, we are reminded that there is nothing tiny about its roster of Nobel laureates, the minds of its faculty and its 1,800 graduate and undergraduate students, and a record of general excellence that makes it an international institution.

Just in Southern California, its reach extends beyond Pasadena to the Palomar Observatory and its marine biology lab in Corona Del Mar.

Nor is there anything bonsai about one of the ways it will celebrate its first 100 years as a campus--with a fund-raising drive whose goal is to accumulate $350 million.

It somehow seems typical of the institute’s approach that it already had in hand $120 million of that before the campaign was announced.

Caltech’s last fund-raiser began in 1974. As an indication that the price of excellence goes up like everything else, that campaign lasted five years and raised $132 million.

The new campaign will divide its money pretty much the way most university fund-raisers do, with about a third each going to endowments, operations and construction.

But one specific goal says a lot about how California got where it is, and what it must do to stay there. Of the total, $10 million will be earmarked for “exciting and promising new areas of study.” That’s Caltech talking. With luck, California’s listening.