Kettering U Gets The Biggest Gift In Its History
FLINT -- Hundreds of Kettering University students and staff gathered with Flint community officials under tall shade trees on campus Monday morning to celebrate the largest gift in the university's history -- a three-year, $15.5 million pledge from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
Kettering's recently inaugurated president, Robert K. McMahan, called the gift "transformational" for Kettering.
The Foundation intends to provide the money as a series of grants to Kettering University over about three years. The first of those grants, just over $2 million, was made in May.
Officials said the grants will support what McMahan and university officials call "four pillars" of goals for the school:
• grow student enrollment;
• help the school make a greater positive economic impact in Flint;
• communicate the university's unique identity to a broader audience; and
• build alumni relationships and support for the school.
McMahan said the grants would provide many new programs, laboratories and buildings for the school, including new biology laboratories and programs, a year-around FIRST Robotics engineering center, a new chemical engineering laboratory, and more student residences on campus. McMahan said it's a major goal to make Kettering more of a residential school.
Also, a party store on the corner of Chevrolet and University avenues will be transformed into a new campus police headquarters and a restaurant open to students and the community.
The grant will also expand Kettering's distance learning programs, creating what McMahan called Kettering Global University.
Strategies for helping to revitalize the Flint community also include programs devoted to helping entrepreneurs create new products and businesses, and the redevelopment of properties adjacent to the Kettering campus.
In addition, the Mott grants will help the university undertake a number of activities to strengthen Kettering's name recognition in the United States and around the world, and increase alumni support and participation.
"Our faculty and staff members spent the last year developing a plan that builds on Kettering's historical strengths and paves the way for future academic advancement, economic growth and relationship-building with students and the community," McMahan said. "I am deeply appreciative for the Mott Foundation's support of that vision."
Kettering was founded as The School of Automobile Trades in 1919 under the direction of the Industrial Fellowship of Flint as a night school, training individuals for careers in industry. In 1923 the school became known as the Flint Institute of Technology. General Motors acquired the school in 1926, renaming it General Motors Institute of Technology, shortening it to General Motors INstitute in 1932.
GM used the school to create engineers and leaders for its corporate ranks. Early on, a co-op program required applicants to find a GM division to be their sponsor, with work and school mixed in six-week rotations. In 1979, the semesters and work co-ops were expanded to 12 weeks.
As GM's presence in Flint waned, the school became independent in 1982, and its name changed to Kettering University in 1998. The school retains its rotating school-work-school-work co-op requirement, and has co-op job opportunities for its students with more than 600 employers.
Kettering offers bachelor's degrees in a variety of science, engineering and technology fields, including mathematics, physics, computer science and various engineering specialties. There are also master's degrees in business, IT, manufacturing and engineering. And there are more than 40 minors, concentrations and specialties, including pre-med.
