Kettering University history

Bassett talked Sobey into giving a presentation to GM leadership about a new focus and program for the school that he had instituted in 1924 called cooperative education.

General Motors acquired the school on July 12, 1926, renaming it General Motors Institute of Technology.

In 1927, he founded the Kettering Foundation – a non-partisan research organization – and later helped to found the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

In 1932 the name of the school was shortened to General Motors Institute.

Sobey got to work and in 1945, a certified degree program began.

The first bachelor's degree was awarded on August 23, 1946.

The Special Collections and University Archives was established in 1974, largely through the vision and research interests of Richard P. Scharchburg and members of the University’s Alumni Foundation.

After GM reduced operations in Flint, the company and the university separated on July 1, 1982.

In 1997, school leadership decided to separate from GM entirely and change the name to Kettering University after Sobey’s friend and inventor, Charles F. Kettering.

On January 1, 1998 the school's name was formally changed to Kettering University in order to:

In the years after 2005, the University continued to add new degree programs, buildings – such as the Innovation Center and the Dane and Mary Louise Miller Life Sciences Laboratories – and invest in Flint as a college city.

The computer science program received ABET accreditation in 2007.

A chemical engineering program as well as a pre-med course of study were launched in 2008.

References: Gustin, L. R. (2009). Kettering University celebrates 90 years.

The chemical engineering program received ABET accreditation in 2013.

Kettering University acquired Atwood Stadium in 2014.