FLINT ? Kettering University received a one-year, $2 million grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation that will benefit the school’s scholarship, community outreach and educational programs. The Foundation’s support for Kettering has totaled $27 million since 1983.

The grant is Kettering?s largest donation this year and one of the largest in recent history. The contribution brings the University close to its $5.4 million fund-raising goal for 2010-11.

?This tremendous investment in Kettering?s strategic initiatives will allow us to strengthen our need-based scholarships and continue to support outreach and important educational programs for youth,? said Kettering President Stan Liberty. ?The Mott Foundation?s support helps us in furthering enrollment and constituent efforts, which make us a stronger institutional neighbor in the City of Flint.?

Mott Foundation president and CEO William S. White added: ?Kettering is known for preparing skilled and innovative leaders in business and industry, creating a pipeline of talent ready to compete in the global marketplace. We are pleased to support that work, as well as the University?s role as an important educational and economic partner in the Flint community.?

In addition to supporting scholarships, the recent Mott grant will help fund constituent development, branding initiatives and Kettering?s pre-college programs, including:

* AIM, or Academically Interested Minds, a five-week summer residential program to help students of color make a successful transition from high school to college;

* LITE, or Lives Improve Through Engineering, a two-week summer residential program to introduce 11th grade girls on ways to improve lives through math and science and;

* FIRST Robotics, a national effort to showcase Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, established in 1926 in Flint by an automotive pioneer, is a private philanthropy committed to supporting projects that promote a just, equitable and sustainable society. It supports nonprofit programs throughout the U.S. and, on a limited geographic basis, internationally. Grantmaking is focused in four programs: Civil Society, Environment, Flint Area and Pathways Out of Poverty. Besides Flint, offices are located in metropolitan Detroit, Johannesburg (South Africa) and London. The Foundation, with 2010 year-end assets of approximately $2.2 billion, made 492 grants totaling $92.9 million.

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