In addition to working with Seventh-day Adventists to build a hospital that would espouse Christian-based compassion, Eugene Kettering, son of inventor Charles F. Kettering, and his wife, Virginia, wanted to establish a college to train medical professionals. In 1967, three years after the opening of Kettering Medical Center, that college opened with 137 students.
Kettering College, a coeducational school owned by Kettering Medical Center and chartered by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, began as a junior college offering two-year associate degrees. The school grew and in 1973 launched the first physician assistant program in Ohio. In 1997, Kettering College graduated to the four-year level, offering a Bachelor of Science in health professions. The Bachelor of Science in nursing was added in 2001, and in 2006, the physician assistant program became the school’s first on-campus master’s degree. Today, Kettering has more than 920 students and over 100 full-time faculty and staff members.
