President's Perspective
By Stan Liberty
President, Kettering University
This issue recognizes the 90th anniversary of our esteemed institution, which was founded on Oct. 20, 1919. It has been 90 years of sweat equity, achievement and much recognition for our alumni and their alma mater.
Kettering continues to receive important recognitions and honors. In the past few weeks, “U.S. News & World Report’s” America’s Best Colleges Guide 2010 ranked Kettering’s Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering program #1 and our Mechanical Engineering program #2 in the country among institutions without doctoral programs. Overall, engineering at Kettering was again ranked in the top 20.
In addition, “The Princeton Review” ranked Kettering as one of 158 institutions receiving the Best in the Midwest designation in the 2010 Best Colleges: Region by Region school selections. Kettering has consistently been on this select list since 2004. But perhaps one of the best honors we’ve received comes from an organization that examines salary statistics for college graduates. According to graduate salary statistics compiled by PayScale College Salary Report, the starting median salary ($57,900) and mid-career median salary ($94,500) for Kettering engineering graduates outpace those from The University of Michigan ($51,700 and $91,900) and Purdue University ($51,000 and $90,700). The value-added learning in our cooperative education program, combined with a rigorous course of academic study, clearly produce the kind of professionals our corporate partners seek. This kind of news and the continuing success of our alumni are critical to our ability to attract new students to Kettering; and in the last two years we have experienced some growth in our new student population after a period of decline.
Locally, Marsha Lyttle, director of the Region 6 office of the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center (MI-SBTDC), reported that since moving to Kettering's campus in August 2007, the Center has assisted 547 clients and helped create 153 local jobs. In addition, the MI-SBTDC provided more than 2,499 hours of counseling and assisted in the creation of 28 new businesses in our area with more than $1.9 million in capital investment. To meet rising demand for new business assistance, the Center also increased the number of its program offerings and has trained more than 770 individuals, including 357 students in 15 high school classrooms who engaged in entrepreneurship programs.
Finally, Kettering also recognizes the importance of providing information and opportunities to our alumni and friends, which may help them weather the current economic environment. On Saturday Oct. 10, we will hold the first Kettering University Financial Summit, an annual symposium that provides information regarding all aspects of personal finance for alumni, students and friends of the University. Our keynote speaker will be Harry Lange ’75, vice president of Fidelity Investments & portfolio manager of the Magellan Fund. You can read more about this important alumni event in this issue of the “Kettering Perspective.” We hope you can attend. On behalf of the Kettering community, I hope you have a prosperous fall season.
To request an issue of Kettering Perspective, contact us at
Kettering Perspective, Office of PR & Communications, 1700 West Third Avenue, Room 4-934 CC, Flint MI 48504.
810 762-9538 voice; 810 762-7435 fax; gerwin@kettering.edu