Kent Kresa, a former president and chief executive at Northrop Grumman Corp., is donating an unrestricted $10 million endowment to the California Institute of Technology’s division of physics, mathematics and astronomy, the school announced Monday.

The Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair for Caltech’s Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy is being named for Kresa, who is also a Caltech senior trustee and board chair emeritus, and his late wife, Joyce, who established the fund.

Kent Kresa, an alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he wanted to give a gift that would allow Caltech’s faculty to decide how to spend the money.