President's Biography

Stanley R. Liberty, Ph.D.

Stanley R. Liberty, Ph.D.
President
Kettering University
Flint, MI

Dr. Stan Liberty, a native of Maine, became Kettering University’s sixth president on July 1, 2005. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering at the University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Liberty came to Kettering from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where he had served seven and one-half years as provost and vice president for academic affairs. While at Bradley he was a member of the Board of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce (PACC), chaired the PACC Transportation Committee, was a member of the PACC Business Advisory Committee, and served on the Peoria Civic Federation Transportation Committee. He also chaired the Research, Education and Innovation Team of Peoria NEXT, a science and technology based economic development initiative, and he was a member of the Community Advisory Board for the Peoria Area World Affairs Council.

Before joining Bradley, he served as dean of engineering for 13-1/2 years at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and as that university’s interim vice chancellor for academic affairs. He was the Nebraska representative on the Science and Technology Council of the States, a working group of the National Governor’s Association, and he advised Governors Orr and Nelson on science and technology matters. In 1995 he worked at Transcrypt International, a manufacturer of secure communications products, in a part-time position as director of advanced research and planning. He has also served as a director of two small corporations.

He also served as department chair of electrical engineering at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and as a faculty member at Texas Tech University, where he was founding director of Texas Tech's center for energy research, an associate dean of graduate studies, and a member of the Texas Energy Advisory Council. Prior to his academic career he was employed as a design engineer by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Dr. Liberty’s research has been supported by grants from several federal agencies including NSF, NASA and the Office of Naval Research.

In 1976 he was named the Outstanding Young Electrical Engineering Professor in the United States by Eta Kappa Nu, and he is a 2005 recipient of the University of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering Honor Award for “significant contributions to the advancement of engineering, or meritorious achievements in engineering.”

Presently Dr. Liberty is a member of the Strategic Board of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce and he serves on the Boards of: Kettering University; PalNet (a Flint area higher educational library consortium); the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Michigan, Michigan Virtual University, the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, the National Commission for Cooperative Education, and the Tri-County Venture Capital Fund , LLC.

Dr. Liberty is an accomplished musician, having first performed professionally at the age of 13. He has been very active as a coach and leader in youth sports organizations in four states. He is an avid golfer and fisherman, and plays handball and racquetball. His wife Angie, also a native of Maine, was Director of the Center for Executive and Professional Development in Bradley’s Foster College of Business Administration prior to moving to Flint. She is a member of the Flint Cultural Center Board. Angie and Stan have two adult children and three grandchildren.