Society of Automotive Engineers Partners With Kettering University to Offer Joint Certificate in Automotive Systems, Can Lead to Master's Degree

WARRENDALE, Pa., Feb. 25 -- In an effort to enhance the skills, knowledge and educational experience of automotive engineering professionals throughout the country, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and Kettering University's Continuing Education program recently announced the creation of a joint certificate program in Automotive Systems.

Kettering University, in Flint, MI, will accept up to 80-hours (the equivalent of eight graduate credits) of SAE courses toward a joint 20-credit SAE/Kettering Certificate in Automotive Systems. By taking the equivalent of eight credits with SAE and adding three more Kettering four-credit courses an automotive professional can obtain the graduate-level certificate. This two- phase program gives engineering professionals seeking to increase their knowledge and technical skills in automotive engineering an efficient and practical means to do so through SAE, then apply that coursework to formal graduate level credentials.

The certificate, which offers participants exposure to the latest in course offerings from a selection of SAE-approved classes, also allows individuals accepted into the Kettering Graduate Program to count five courses toward the University's graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. As a result, engineers only need to enroll in five additional graduate courses in Kettering's graduate degree program to earn their Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.

"The Kettering alliance gives our courses instant visibility and enables our customers to use our highly focused, practical courses to not only stay current but also apply those courses to formal graduate level credentials with a highly reputable engineering institution," explained Kevin Perry, SAE Professional Development Manager.

Dr. David Strubler, Associate Vice President of Graduate Studies at Kettering and an Associate Professor of Business and Management, sees solid value in the partnership. "All of us at Kettering are thrilled and excited about intensifying our relationship with SAE to help serve the engineering community more effectively," he said. "This certificate partnership represents a new avenue to increase graduate enrollments at Kettering and enhance our relationship with one of the world's most prestigious engineering societies while serving a diverse student population."

To qualify for the certificate program, students must have a four-year bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline from a U.S. regionally accredited university or foreign equivalent. This degree must be engineering- related and not in a technology discipline.

Representatives from both institutions will be on site at SAE World Congress 2003, March 3-6 at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Kettering evening classes will begin in July 2003 at both the SAE Automotive Headquarters in Troy, MI, and on the campus of Kettering University in Flint. In the future, Kettering expects to utilize the University's exceptional distance learning mechanisms to provide the program and students an additional practical and efficient means to engage in class work from the convenience of their home or office. SAE courses are offered regularly at their Automotive Headquarters education facility in Troy.

The Society for Automotive Engineers is an organization comprised of more than 83,000 engineers, business executives, educators and students from more than 97 countries around the world. Kettering University, formerly General Motors Institute, has been providing professional co-op experience for its students for more than 80 years. Kettering offers its 2,500 students nine bachelor's degree programs that combine on-campus classroom and laboratory experience and meaningful, relevant, paid employment with more than 700 corporate partners. At the graduate level, students can structure their academic studies around work schedules and earn their master's degree through distance-learning options.

To learn more about this new certificate program and the growing partnership between Kettering University and SAE, contact Kevin Perry at SAE Professional Development, (724) 772-7502, or kperry@sae.org. Visit the SAE Web site at www.sae.org.

SAE is a non-profit engineering and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of mobility technology to better serve humanity. Nearly 83,000 engineers and scientists who are SAE members develop technical information on all forms of self-propelled vehicles, including automobiles, aircraft, aerospace craft, trucks, buses, marine, rail and transit machinery. This information is disseminated through SAE meetings, books, electronic products and databases, technical papers, standards, reports, and professional development programs.