Kettering University is a critical part of our company fabric and of the engineering community in Michigan. This year, Kettering, formerly GMI, is celebrating its centennial. Our newsletter is dedicated to that accomplishment and looking back at how the institution has changed and how it has changed us.
Kettering Centennial
Kettering University Marks 100 years
In 1919, what is now Kettering University opened its doors as The School of Automobile Trades. No stranger to name changes, it became the Flint Institute of Technology in 1923 when it began offering a full four-year program. In 1923, General Motors acquired the school and it became known as the General Motors Institute (GMI). After 56 years, GM divested, and the school was renamed GMI Engineering & Management Institute or GMI-EMI. Finally, in 1998, it was named Kettering University.
This year, the school is celebrating its centennial. We celebrate the school's commitment to innovative and relevant education. From its founding to train the new automobile industry, to being among the first -and still few- to offer a true co-op program, Kettering has evolved with the times, preparing excellent engineers. Two years ago, in our September 2017 newsletter, we highlighted the evolution of the school with its new Learning Commons, and interviewed university president Dr. Bob McMahan. The school continues to keep up with the times, and we couldn't be more proud of this alma mater.
Patti-Kettering Connection
Patti Engineering has a tight connection with Kettering University. Several of our team are graduates, including Sam Hoff, CEO; Dave Foster, VP of Engineering; Steve Palmgren, VP of Sales and Marketing; Alan Purdy, Electrical Engineer; and Brad Grabow, Electrical Engineer. You can read more about their favorite memories, classes and professors, below.
We have also had the pleasure of hosting coops for many years and sponsor The Clayton R. Smith Memorial Scholarship for incoming students.
Commencement 2019
As part of the 100th commencement, Kettering gathered alumni speakers from each of the last eight decades. Sam Hoff, CEO of Patti Engineering, had the honor of representing the 1990s. You can view his speech at the link below.
At the event, he had the pleasure of meeting several interesting and accomplished alum, including Albert Sobey, Jr. Al's father, Albert "Major" Sobey, founded the school. Al Jr. has been quite the success in his own right! He earned many patents throughout his career. One of the first was for his thesis written in 1945 at his coop at Allison. It was related to a military aircraft engine and was classified by the DOD for 50 years until 1995! Now in his 90s, he still works and is involved in a startup.
Kettering University was formative for a number of our team members. Below, a few of our alum share their favorite memories of their time at Kettering over the last (fewer than) 100 years.
Favorite Academic Memories
My senior capstone project was to create a "product." We were given a budget, requirement specification, and we had to develop a product that met the criteria and stayed within budget. How real-world can you get? This forced our team to think outside the box and not reinvent the wheel. - Steve Palmgren
Being part of the SAE Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) Development team 1992-1995 Relationships built with the team members are still great friends to this day! We spent hundreds of hours together in the lab at school. - Dave Foster
Staying up into the late night hours with friends eating Chinese food while programming FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays) in the lab for a project. - Alan Purdy
Favorite Non-Academic Memories
Meeting the love of my life at the Fiji Island party on July 22, 1989. - Sam Hoff
Also meeting my future wife at the frat house next door to where Patti and Sam met. It was a Delta Tau Delta party in 1992. -Dave Foster
One of the common gathering places was an old pub called Paddy McGee's. Over the years, my group of friends got to know Paddy quite well and would help out where needed. He retired and closed his pub shortly after we graduated. He gave us the sign that was out front. I wonder if that sign is still in someone's basement? ;) - Steve Palmgren
Favorite Professor
Prof. Duane McKeachie. He just made all his classes fun. - Steve Palmgren
Prof. Mark Thompson in the Electrical Engineering department. I personally convinced him to be our faculty advisor for the HEV vehicle program after learning he had converted a Fiero into an EV. - Dave Foster
Prof. Reggie Bell. He remembered everyone's name in the class by the second day. The man was a genius. - Sam Hoff
Prof. Girma Tewolde taught a majority of my Computer Engineering courses and made sure that everyone understood the material and how it was still important nowadays. - Alan Purdy
Most Interesting Class
Advanced Power Electronics. Everything from electric vehicle control systems to wireless power transfer, every day was something interesting. The class was extremely hands on with Professor Hong acting more like a mentor. While very demanding, the course definitely went beyond teaching the basics and the knowledge and experience will carry on long into the future. - Brad Grabow
History of the Computing Professional by Prof Huggins in the Computer Science department, the class showed the history of computing and all the steps and missteps that led to today’s computing focused world. - Alan Purdy
Digitals. 10+10=100 (if you know binary, you get it). Manufacturing 101 was also a cool and very GMI unique class. I think I still have my sand casting as well as my metal powdered bulldog. -Sam Hoff
High Voltage Generation and Measurement with Prof. Hiziroglu. At the time, my coop was with a power utility company. -Dave Foster
Computer Architecture. Half of this class was a team project to design and create our own CPU (central processing unit). I was fascinated with the complex logic involved in creating action commands. Ironically (or not), my first role at Patti Engineering was programming logic code for our customers. - Steve Palmgren
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