Kettering University Graduate Catalog 2013 - 2014

Kettering University’s name honors Charles Kettering (1876-1958), a distinguished engineer, inventor, scientist, social philosopher and humanitarian.

Charles Kettering believed that both theoretical knowledge and practical experience are necessary elements of an education. This belief made him an advocate for cooperative education in the earliest years of the twentieth century. Our founders were among those influenced by Kettering’s advocacy.

From our earliest years our students have benefited from moving back and forth between the practical requirements of work experience and the disciplined reflection fostered in an academic environment.

We trace our origins to 1919 as the School of Automotive Trades, a school that provided night classes for factory workers in the growing automotive industry in Flint, Michigan. Under the leadership of Albert Sobey, the school became the Flint Institute of Technology in 1923. In 1924 Sobey created the school‗s first cooperative education program permitting alternating periods of full-time academic work and full-time work in local factories in a four-year program.

Recognizing the potential of cooperative education to educate its engineers and managers, General Motors Corporation took over the institute in 1926 and changed the name to General Motors Institute. In 1945, General Motors Institute added a senior thesis requirement and became a degree-granting college while maintaining its full cooperative education program.
General Motors divested itself of ownership in 1982.

Though fully independent of General Motors, we maintained part of our old name until 1998, GMI Engineering and Management Institute. As an independent private college we expanded the number and types of companies employing our co-op students, added master’s degree programs, established new majors and replaced GM financial support with tuition, donations and endowment income.

In changing our name to Kettering University in 1998, we carry the name of a man whose life represents who we are. Charles Kettering was famous for his technical knowledge and inventions, was fascinated by ideas, respected human imagination and believed that service was the purpose of education. We honor his legacy with our cooperative education program, student-centered learning, faculty scholarship and preparation of students to be leaders in service to their professions and to society.