Kettering University
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Kettering University, an engineering school originally called General Motors Institute, is located in Flint, Michigan along the Flint River on property that used to be the main manufacturing location for General Motors. The school is one of the few engineering schools that focuses on preparing students to succeed in an industrial career, as opposed to research, government work, or simply product design. The university boasts that 100% of its seniors are employed or accepted to graduate schools before graduation and that one out of six alumni either own their own business or are high level managers in a Fortune 500 company (see #Notable Alumni). Even though the school is small, it is home to the largest mechanical engineering department in the United States and is consistently ranked by US News and World Report as one of the best schools for an undergraduate engineering education without PhD programs.
Kettering University offers Bachelor of Science Degrees in Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Chemistry, Industrial Engineering, Management, and Mechanical Engineering. The University also offers several minors and has recently developed a Master's Program.
In addition to classwork, students spend half the year acquiring full-time work experience. The student body is broken into two sections, A and B. A-Section attends classes from July to September and from January to March, while B-Section attends classes from October to December and April to June. During the 3 month periods between class terms, students are gaining work experience by working full-time at a co-op employer. To graduate students must, in addition to classwork, complete 5 work terms and a major project for their employer. The major project must be documented in a thesis. It officially takes four and one-half years to graduate, but some students finish one term early, after four years, and many others finish one term late, after five years.
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History
The history of Kettering University is deeply tied to the development of the American Automotive Industry. The school was originally founded in 1919 by General Motors under the direction of Charles Kettering as a night school training individuals for careers in industry. General Motors acquired the school in 1926, renaming it General Motors Institute.
Charles Kettering was dissatisfied with the educational approach taken by other engineering schools of the day and felt that for GM to succeed as a company they needed to be able to produce talented engineers. He felt that existing schools focused too much on theory and did not provide students with enough experience in design, troubleshooting, manufacturing, and business. Kettering felt that an undergraduate education in engineering should be broad and cover all of the major disiplines and that an engineer's specialty should come from his electives and his work experience. As such, GMI focused the education on engineering for industry, and pioneered many educational firsts including the co-op program, a freshmen level manufacturing course, and automotive degree specialities. Acceptance to the school included a job at General Motors as an engineer. Work and school were mixed in 6 week rotations. Because General Motors used the school to train its engineers, tuition was partially subsidized.
After General Motors reduced its operations in Flint, the company and the University became separate entities in 1982, although General Motors continued to hire co-ops from GMI. The name of the institution at that time became GMI Engineering & Management Institute. The letters GMI were retained to allow easy identification with the old General Motors Institute, although officially GMI didn't stand for General Motors anymore. As part of this change, co-op rotations were expanded to 12 weeks, new co-op employers began participating with the institution, and the University began charging a full tuition fee.
As the University expanded, and more co-op employers began to hire students, the GMI name became less relevant. Finally in 1998 the school changed its name to Kettering University, over the objections of many faculty and alumni.
Student Life
Greek life
The university has a very active Greek life. Over one-third of student body is currently involved in a Greek Letter Organization. Historically membership has been as high as 80%. Many National Inter-fraternal Counsel Fraternities have Chapters at Kettering as do several National Panhellenic Sororities. The National Pan-Hellenic Counsel has several local chapters that are also affiliated with Kettering. Each group has a school-wide counsel that its members participate in. These counsels are designed to keep communications lines open between the different groups, and to facilitate relations with the University on matters such as school-wide events and new membership. In addition to the recognized organizations there are several unrecognized organizations including a local Christian fraternity and a local Christian sorority.
Several years of continually declining Fraternity Membership have caused debate in the community as to the cause. Most of the houses agree that school policy is a major factor, however there is disagreement as to the solution.
The National Inter-fraternal Counsel Fraternities at Kettering include:
- Delta Chi known as "D-Chi"
- Delta Tau Delta known as "The Delts"
- Lambda Chi Alpha known as "Lambda Chi" or "Choppers"
- Phi Delta Theta known as "The Phi Delts"
- Phi Gamma Delta known as "Fiji"
- Pi Kappa Alpha known as "The Pikes"
- Sigma Alpha Epsilon known as "SAE" causing some confusion considering many students also join SAE.
- Sigma Chi known as "Sigma Chi" or "Sigs"
- Sigma Nu known as "Sigma Nu"
- Theta Xi known as "T X"
The National Panhellenic Sororities include:
- Alpha Gamma Delta known as "The Alpha Gams"
- Alpha Phi known as "The AFs" or "The APs"
- Alpha Sigma Alpha known as "The Alpha Sigs"
The local National Pan-Hellenic Organizations include:
Non-Greek clubs
Kettering Student Government (http://ksg.kettering.edu) sponsors many student clubs to promote an atmosphere conducive to social interaction. Some clubs receive money from the University to operate, however more often, new clubs are being created that are self sustaining. Among those clubs are:
- The Technician (Student Newspaper)
- The Reflector (Student Yearbook)
- WKUF-LP (Student Run Radio Station, that recently acquired a license and built an on-site 100W tower)
- Firebirds (http://www.kettering.edu/~firebird/) (Car Enthusiasts, involved in a car show, and several rallies across eastern Michigan)
- CCC (Campus Crusade for Christ, B-Section Only)
- CIA (http://www.kettering.edu/~cia/) (Christians In Action, A-Section Only)
- SWE (Society of Women Engineers)
- Two Political Organizations (Actually work together to better inform the student population about political issues)
- CRAKU (College Republicans At Kettering University, B-Section Only)
- Kettering University College Democrats (B-Section Only)
- SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers)
- KUAC (http://ksg.kettering.edu/kuac) (Kettering University Anime Club, A-Section Only)
- Gaming Society (Board Game, Card Game, and Role Playing Game club)
- KUPS (Kettering University Programming Society)
- AREC (Amateur Radio and Electronics Club)
- The Bulldog Jazz Band
- Aquaneers Scuba Club
- Black Unity Congress
- International Club
- Karate Club
- Kickboxing Club
- Hockey Club
- Laser Tag Club
Notable Alumni
- J.T. Battenberg III (http://delphi.com/about/leadership/dsb/battenberg/) '66, CEO, Delphi Corp.
- Ivan Deveson (http://www.ceda.com.au/New/Flash/html/body_ivan_deveson.html) '59, retired Lord Mayor of Melbourne Australia
- Chet Huber (http://onstar.internetpressroom.com/prr_executives_detail.cfm?ContactID=11) '77, President, OnStar Corp
- James McCaslin (http://www.kettering.edu/news/archivedDetail.asp?storynum=69) '74, President, Harley-Davidson Motor Co.
- F. James McDonald (http://www.kettering.edu/library/mcdonald.asp) '44, Former President, General Motors Corporation.
- Stan O'Neal (http://www.ml.com/index.asp?id=7695_8134_8302_13747) '74, CEO, Merrill Lynch
- Marissa Peterson (http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/media/ceo/mgt_peterson.html) '83, Executive Vice President, Sun Microsystems
- Dr. Robert Reiss (http://innovation.stanford.edu/jsp/global/template1.jsp?id=445) '60, America's first biomedical engineer, extremely successful businessman, retired
External links
- Kettering University web site (http://www.kettering.edu)
- Pictures of the immediate surrounding neighborhood (http://www.gregcumberford.com/pics/2002/flint) (one of the bad areas)
- Kettering University, rated by the students (http://www.studentsreview.com/MI/GEMI.html)
- Kettering Professors, rated by the students (http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/SelectTeacher.jsp?sid=366)
- WKUF, Kettering's radio station (http://www.wkus.org)
- National Center for Education Statistics (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool/InstDetail.asp?UNITID=169983)