The Chrysler Institute of Engineering was an engineering

graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

operated by the

Chrysler Corporation FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of ...

from 1931 to 1988. Situated on the company's headquarters complex in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

enclave of

Highland Park, Michigan Highland Park is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An enclave of Detroit, Highland Park is located roughly north of Downtown Detroit, and is surrounded by Detroit on most sides. As of the 2020 United ...

, the school offered

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

s in mechanical engineering, as well as non-degree training programs for its employees.

Origins

The Chrysler Institute of Engineering was founded to address a shortage of suitable automotive engineers. While the company was successful at recruiting existing engineers, teaching them the "Chrysler way" of doing things was time consuming and expensive. Engineer

Carl Breer Carl Breer (1883 – 1970) was an American scientist and engineer, and one of the Studebaker engineers known as The Three Musketeers. Biography He was born on November 8, 1883, in Los Angeles, California. He was married to the sister of F ...

broached the subject of founding an engineering school to

Walter Chrysler Walter Percy Chrysler (April 2, 1875 – August 18, 1940) was an American industrial pioneer in the automotive industry, automotive industry executive, and the founder and namesake of American Chrysler, Chrysler Corporation. Childhood Chrysler ...

, who tasked Vice President K. T. Keller with finding the man to build the school. The first director of the Institute was John J. Caton, formerly the head of the automative engineering department at the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catho ...

. Caton formulated the school's curriculum by studying similar schools established by companies such as

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

and Westinghouse, and the Institute secured a charter from the

Michigan Department of State The Michigan Department of State is a principal executive department of the government of Michigan. It is responsible for administering Election, elections, regulating Notary public, notaries public, and maintaining records of statutes and the S ...

allowing it grant degrees.

Operation

Starting in 1931, the Institute enrolled postgraduate students, both recent college graduates and those with work experience, in a two year program that awarded

s in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

. Each student would draw a full time engineer's salary and divide his time between classroom instruction and hands-on experience working in various departments of Chrysler. In 1933, its first class graduated 35 students, awarding 14 master's degrees and 21 diplomas. The Institute quickly added free evening classes, taught by the graduate students, to offer advanced training to engineering employees. While this program granted a diploma, not a degree, it proved popular, with over 1,000 students enrolled by 1934. In 1940, the Institute allowed messenger boys from the drafting department to study drafting, and women and disabled veterans were extended the opportunity in 1942. In the school's first decade, classes were held in various buildings of the Chrysler complex, but a new Chrysler Institute of Engineering Building was opened at 12260 Oakland Avenue in October 1942, which featured classrooms, laboratories, drafting rooms, and an auditorium. In its first two decades of operation, the Chrysler Institute of Engineering had awarded 545 master's degrees, and the overwhelming majority of students stayed with Chrysler, forming significant percentage of its executives. In August 1986, Chrysler announced that it would move 5,000 engineering employees from its

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

in Highland Park to a new technical center in suburban

Oakland County Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a principal county of the Detroit metropolitan area, containing the bulk of Detroit's northern suburbs. Its seat of government is Pontiac, and its largest city is Troy. As of the ...

. The Chrysler Institute closed in 1988, and by 1996 Chrysler had moved all of its operations to its new headquarters in

Auburn Hills Auburn Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Detroit, Auburn Hills is located about north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 24,360. Auburn Hills is home to ...

Notable alumni

John DeLorean John Zachary DeLorean ( ; January 6, 1925 – March 19, 2005) was an American engineer, inventor, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry. He is widely known as founder of the DeLorean Motor Company, as well as for his work at General Motor ...

Reuben Kelto Reuben W. Kelto (September 10, 1919 – March 19, 1998) was an American football player. He played at the tackle position for the University of Michigan from 1939 to 1941. He was chosen as the Most Valuable Player on the 1941 Michigan Wol ...

* Max D. Liston * William C. Newberg *

Virginia Sink Virginia Sink (September 14, 1913 – November 20, 1986) was an American chemical engineer and the first woman automotive engineer at Chrysler. Early life and education Mary Virginia Sink was born in Denver, September 14, 1913, to Iva and George ...

Vaino Jack Vehko Vaino Jack Vehko (5 May 1918 – 17 August 1999) was an engineer for the Chrysler Corporation. Vehko was born in Detroit, Michigan, was the son of James Vehko (aka Jalmari Vehkomäki) of Kolho, Finland. He spent his entire career with Chrysler Co ...

References

{{reflist Chrysler Engineering universities and colleges in Michigan Private universities and colleges in Michigan Universities and colleges established in 1931 Universities and colleges in Wayne County, Michigan 1931 establishments in Michigan Technological universities in the United States

Origins

Operation

Notable alumni

See also

References