Finding New Ways To Connect, Create and Collaborate

We will all remember the past two years as being unlike any we have faced — as families, as a community, and as a university. The pandemic forced all of us to learn new ways to connect, create, and collaborate — and perhaps most importantly — to care for the changing needs of those around us and our students in whose future we are all vested so deeply.

Whether it has been establishing protocols and programs to ensure a safe campus; launching virtual platforms for staff meetings, alumni panels, and family campus visits; or offering alternative learning platforms, such as virtual, hybrid, and in-person classes for our students, the entire Kettering University community has been quick to pivot and to do so successfully in ways that demonstrated time and time again our flexibility and our innovative spirit.

While we did so, we were committed to fiscal responsibility and to providing stability for our employees and community. As part of these efforts, we have been able to provide support programs and critically needed financial relief to our students and employees. Some of these initiatives you will learn about in this publication.

In this year’s Philanthropy Report, you’ll read a note from Vice President for University Advancement and External Relations Sue Davies, who after nearly 10 years of working with our generous alumni has decided to retire to enjoy more time with family. The University can’t thank her enough, and I wish to thank her personally for her dedication and service to our community. You’ll also read about how our alumni and corporate partners are stepping up to support students and ease their financial worries. There are stories about new, creative, and holistic scholarships that are increasing the number of underrepresented students on campus, including women, African American, and Hispanic students. You’ll even read about a new scholarship for students on the spectrum and the alumni who started it.

Included as well is an update on our Boldly Forward campaign and its centerpiece, the Learning Commons. This state-of-the-art innovation hub for creativity, connection, and collaboration is coming alive and now dominates the heart of our campus thanks to your support.

In reading these many stories of success and of overcoming challenges, we hope you will be inspired by our alumni and friends who have chosen to contribute to the Boldly Forward campaign and the Learning Commons. As you read, you will even get a renewed sense of the importance of this new facility through a student’s reaction to it.

Thank you for your generosity and your belief in the importance of a vibrant and enduring Kettering University. Your support makes it possible for us to meet the daily challenges we face as well as to plan for the future with optimism and hope — a future that we are confident is bright because of you.

And as we move Boldly Forward into 2022, we invite you to continue to join us in building that bright future. Thank you.

Warmest regards,

Dr. Robert K. McMahan

President & Professor of Physic