MIDLAND, MI — Northwood President Dr. David Fry announced late last week that General Parts Inc. (GPI) presented the university with a $2 million dollar gift toward the university’s planned 25,000-square-foot automotive aftermarket facility on its Midland, MI, campus. The gift was announced on behalf of the company by O. Temple Sloan III, president of GPI on Monday, February 20, during a gathering of 1,100 of their suppliers, associates and the extended Sloan family in Raleigh, NC. The building will be named The Sloan Family Building for Aftermarket Studies. Accompanying Dr. Fry to GPI headquarters in Raleigh, NC, were Dr. Timothy Nash, provost and COO of Northwood’s Michigan campus, and Warren Mault, executive director of resource development.
This gift, combined with other gifts from major automotive aftermarket companies and associations, totals almost half of the estimated $6 million needed to build this state-of-the-art facility to house Northwood’s aftermarket program, the University of the Aftermarket and an executive training center.
Dr. Fry stated, “The GPI gift was made in honor of Sloan’s father, O Temple Sloan Jr., the founder of GPI and CARQUEST and his brother, C. Hamilton Sloan, an early partner in GPI. We are honored in turn to be so closely associated with one of the automotive aftermarket’s true icons as well as his family.”
“The Sloan family and the Northwood family hold many core values in common. Our mutual belief in and respect for free enterprise and education is accented by a shared commitment to ethical management and people,” stated O. Temple Sloan III.
Dr. Nash noted that, “Northwood University has established a rich reputation of educating future entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs for careers in organizational leadership. The close relationship with the Sloan family and GPI adds an invaluable resource that will greatly benefit Northwood students for years to come.”
Announced simultaneously was the naming of Northwood’s automotive aftermarket program in honor of O. Temple Sloan, Jr. Dr. Fry said, “The program, effective immediately, will be called the O. Temple Sloan Aftermarket Management Program. This unique four-year undergraduate dual major enables students to enroll in core industry courses in aftermarket manufacturing, heavy-duty marketing, aftermarket retail/wholesale management, supply chain management, lean distribution, logistics, and current issues affecting the industry, as well as general education and strategic management courses. Additionally, students will complete an industry internship and create an operational business plan.”
Contributors to the building fund to date include: Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance, Inc.; ArvinMeritor, Inc.; AutoZone, Inc.; Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA); Babcox Publications; B D & JE McIntyre Foundation; Delphi Automotive Systems; Meineke Car Care Centers; RPM Group; SBA-TLC, Inc., and The Valvoline Company. Individual contributors are: David Caracci, Kevin Judge, and Dale Larson.
The striking design of the new building will convey the strength of the industry on the outside with unique dynamics in the interior. It will support the growing automotive aftermarket program through an interactive education center, which can be linked to other interactive classrooms on Northwood’s Texas and Florida campuses.
These “smart classrooms” will allow resident faculty, special instructors and world-renowned guest speakers to teach students through state-of-the-art online teleconferencing. In addition to housing the O. Temple Sloan Jr. Aftermarket Management Program and the University of the Aftermarket, the facility will serve other allied academic and executive development activities on the Michigan campus. The Sloan Program in Automotive Aftermarket Management Studies will have the exposure that it deserves while attracting the best and brightest to the program and the industry.
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