After serving as program director for the Kettering University Entrepreneurship Across the University (EAU) program for two years and participating in the KEEN Network initiative on campus, Dr. Doug Melton will leave Kettering to join KEEN as Program Director July 1. KEEN (Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network) is a program of the Wisconsin-based Kern Family Foundation focused on instilling the entrepreneurial mindset in 100 percent of their engineering students. The twenty colleges and universities that comprise KEEN, including Kettering, were awarded a Gold Edison Award in the category of Collaborative Networks and Support April 26. They were recognized for their collaborative work together toward this goal.
Melton, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, served as principal Investigator, or lead faculty-member, for the KEEN initiative at Kettering including the EAU project, the Dynamic Compass Network (DCN) involving six KEEN institutions, and the popular on-campus Innovation Quest competition.
Both the DCN and Innovation Quest were instituted at Kettering by Melton. Following the award of $1,651,000 from the Kern Family Foundation in 2010 for continuation and expansion of the EAU program at Kettering, Melton submitted and was granted an additional $148,000 to facilitate collaboration with other KEEN institutions that was not included in the larger grant. The result was the DCN whose goal is to promote the entrepreneurial mindset in students at multiple schools and to foster collaboration focused on student-centric pedagogy to strengthen the DCN schools.
"Doug Melton has provided exemplary leadership for EAU. His thoughtful, creative, positive spirit will be missed by the campus. I look forward to working with Doug in his new role with the Keen Family Foundation," said Kettering Provost Robert Simpson.
Additionally, Melton worked with industry partners and more than 100 undergraduate corporate thesis and undergraduate research students, and in 1999 and 2010, he was the recipient of the Kettering student-selected “Excellence in Teaching” award.
“We’re very excited to have Dr. Melton join our Foundation team and take KEEN into the next level of impact in entrepreneurial education,” said Kern Family Foundation President James Rahn. Melton replaces former director Dr. Timothy Kriewall who recently retired.
Melton, a Kansas native, received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Wichita State University and The Ohio State University, respectively. Melton’s doctoral degree in electrical engineering was completed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
KEEN is comprised of twenty undergraduate engineering schools including Baylor University, Boston University, Bucknell University, Gonzaga University, Kettering University, Lawrence Technological University, Mercer University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Ohio Northern University, Saint Louis University, Santa Clara University, Union College, University of Dayton, University of Detroit Mercy, University of Evansville, University of New Haven, Villanova University, Western New England University, Widener University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. For more information about KEEN, visit www.keennetwork.com.
Kettering University’s relationship with the Kern Foundation and KEEN:
http://news.kettering.edu/news/16-million-gift
http://news.kettering.edu/news/best-class
http://news.kettering.edu/news/225000-entrepreneurship