Below is a roundup of profiles of distinguished Kettering University alumni that appeared on Kettering.edu in 2014.

Graduate among the world’s best Donkey Kong players: Michael Groesbeck (‘02) is one of the top Donkey Kong players in the world. “I've always been a competitive person, so it was only natural for me to take the game to the extreme,” Groesbeck said. Read more.

Co-op experience remains pivotal for graduate in role as a college president: Thomas Snyder is the president of Ivy Tech Community College, the largest institution of higher education in Indiana and the nation's largest single-accredited statewide community college system. Snyder leads the strategic, academic and operational processes of Indiana's largest college system that serves more than 200,000 students annually at 30 campuses and 100 learning centers that provide a full-spectrum of educational resources, transfer credits, associate degrees, workforce training and professional certification. Read more.

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Six of this year's Alumni Awards recipients.

Mary Barra continues Kettering’s tradition of global leadership: During her commencement speech at Kettering University in 2013, Mary Barra ’85 told students, “Opportunities will arise (for you) that you simply cannot imagine today.” A few months later, Barra was named CEO of General Motors Corp., the first female to lead a global automaker. Read more.

Kettering provided ‘foundational knowledge’ for Jacqueline Dedo’s auto industry career: “Kettering was a real turning point in my life,” Dedo said. “It was a huge opportunity to learn about something you love while translating it to something you can provide for your life. I think the Kettering education is one of the best because of the co-op opportunity, which provides a real learning experience from the ground up.” Read more.

Hear from some distinguished Kettering graduates who visited campus and spoke to students this year.

Path to entrepreneurship for Andy Cronk started at Kettering: Cronk, a Computer Engineering graduate from Flushing, Mich., who co-oped with UPS, credits Kettering’s co-op model for helping him get started on a fast track to business success. Read more.

Cowger family shows that any gift can make an impact: “Kettering is a jewel for the quality of education it gives young folks and in the whole co-op experience where you come out as a practicing engineer and not as a theoretical engineer,” Cowger said. Read more.

Oswald's continue support of international experiences: Distinguished Kettering University alumnus Bob Oswald ‘64 is reiterating his belief in international experiences by pledging to increase the Oswald International Fellowship endowment at Kettering University to $2 million. Read more.

Graduate creating a ‘library for every car’: “Most people who work on cars say they have always wanted something like this to exist,” Balistreri said. “It’s something that will be a really good resource for people.” Read more.

Graduate reflects on life at Kettering, in U.S.: “That’s one thing great about Kettering, there are so many good opportunities. You just have to decide where you want to invest,” Nurudeen said. “I was in electrical engineering but I know so much about water purification and its importance worldwide.” Read more. 

Graduate a leading face of Detroit’s revival: Glomski is the co-founder and CEO of Detroit Labs, a technology service company that is one of the leaders of the tech renaissance in the heart of Detroit. In October 2013, Glomski appeared on 60 Minutes to discuss the revitalization of Detroit and by doing so, became one of the faces of the City’s revival. Read more.

Graduate proudly makes monthly donations to University: Matt Boddy (‘95), the global vice president of sales and marketing for Key Safety Systems, has made a donation to Kettering every month since February 2011. In fact, Boddy has made a donation to Kettering 41 times in the past 18 years. Boddy simply says of his generosity that, “it is the right thing to do.” Read more.

Flint, Kettering have played a large role in life of Mott Foundation's Liversedge: “There’s something about Flint,” Liversedge said. “There’s a compelling story here. This is where important work is taking place.” Read more.

Kettering's connections to the world's largest retailer: Kettering graduates Avie Sassan '04 and Dawn Dreyer '04 have taken it upon themselves to grow Kettering’s presence at Walmart. Read more.

Scribe program helped graduate, now in medical school, find her passion: “The classes were high quality and I really enjoyed the environment. I liked how involved the students were at the University. The faculty and staff at Kettering really listened to us and that’s something that I always thought was important,” Holzworth said. Read more.

Engineering background led graduate into a new arena -- brain research: Matt Gaidica recently accepted his offer to the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Michigan, which will eventually confer him a doctorate degree. In summer 2014, he began a summer research project in the neurosurgery department, giving him the opportunity to work in the operating room. He is interested in Deep Brain Stimulation, which entails placing an electrode into a patient’s brain and firing small electrical pulses to control the disabling effects of late-stage Parkinson’s Disease. Read more.

Graduate’s company a major supplier to FIRST Robotics community: New and innovative robotics products were desired by the FIRST community, which resulted in  Mark Koors and co-founder Andy Baker starting their own company, AndyMark, in 2004.  Read more.

Graduate creates scholarship as a way to give back: In 2013, Chenoweth set up the Chenoweth-Muncie Endowed Scholarship as a way to help future generations of students. Read more.

Kettering connection fostered future business partnership for two graduates: Shawn Lange and Derek Pietz co-founded L2F in June 2011 with the aim of helping Silicon Valley start-up companies accelerate their ramp from laboratory stage to full-scale fabrications (Lab2Fab) by focusing on the manufacturing process while the start-up focused on the core design of their product. Read more.

Kettering University has been a natural fit for the Oskoian family: Karl graduated with a degree in Industrial Administration and in doing so, propelled a legacy family at the University as his three children – Courtney (2012), Cameron (2014) and Christopher (2015) – have all followed his lead while carving their own unique and successful paths along the way. Read more.

Seven distinguished Kettering alumni were received the 2014 Alumni Service Award for their contributions and efforts to their communities. Below is a profile on each of the award recipients. Nominate alumni for an award.