News Releases 2008

December 15, 2008
 Nineteen-year-old earns Master's Degree at Thunderbird~Nineteen-year-old Jonathan Singh received a Master’s of Science in Global Management to become the youngest student to graduate from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz.

November 21, 2008
 Thunderbird and Zayed University receive grant to further develop curriculum and skills enrichment partnership~Thunderbird is expanding its existing partnership with Zayed University through a $284,000 grant from the Higher Education for Development (HED). HED works in close partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and presidential higher education associations to support the involvement of higher education in development issues worldwide.

November 18, 2008
 Thunderbird announces collaboration with the Graduate Institute, Geneva~Thunderbird School of Global Management and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies have announced a new strategic collaboration in executive education. Through this new alliance, Thunderbird is taking its top-ranked Executive MBA to Geneva, its well-established European headquarters for its Corporate Learning division.

November 17, 2008
Thunderbird names Sustainable Innovation Summit winners~For the second year in a row, a team of graduate students from Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies took the top prize of $20,000 and earned the title “Global Champions of Sustainable Innovation” Nov. 15 at Thunderbird School of Global Management.

November 6, 2008
 Thunderbird signs partnership with Peking University in Beijing~Thunderbird School of Global Management continues to expand its global learning network through partnerships with top business schools around the world, including a new partnership with Peking University in Beijing, China.

November 4, 2008
 Thunderbird launches class on doing business in Russia~Thunderbird School of Global Management has launched “Doing Business in Russia” — a comprehensive, online certificate program on the dynamics of Russian business.

October 17, 2008
 'Rich Dad' author visits Thunderbird to teach Afghan women~ Entrepreneurs who think of their business as their job have the wrong mindset and risk burnout, co-author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” Sharon Lechter told a group of Afghan women entrepreneurs Oct. 16 at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz.

October 15, 2008
 Thunderbird and the Business Development Center in Jordan launch business education initiative~ A grant from the United States Agency for International Development -USAID to the Business Development Center in Jordan, will fund a partnership with Thunderbird School of Global Management to offer business training programs for Jordanian executives and entrepreneurs.

October 13, 2008
 Thunderbird helping Valley businesses navigate market conditions~ In an effort to build on and strengthen its economic impact in the Valley, Thunderbird School of Global Management is hosting a panel discussion aimed at helping local businesses and entrepreneurs successfully navigate current market conditions.

October 8, 2008
 Thunderbird appoints four to Board of Trustees~Thunderbird School of Global Management is pleased to announce four individuals with distinct backgrounds have been named to the school’s Board of Trustees. The four newest members of the board are Gary Brukardt, Teresa McCaslin, Marshall Parke and Paul Walsh.

September 28, 2008
 Thunderbird to kick off public launch of $65M capital campaign~ Thunderbird School of Global Management will celebrate the public launch of Campaign Thunderbird Oct. 1 with a community celebration on Thunderbird’s Glendale, Ariz., campus. The $65 million campaign, which already has more than $42 million in total commitments, was jump started in its quiet phase with several multimillion-dollar pledges from alumni and members of the Thunderbird Board of Trustees.

September 19, 2008
 Deadline approaches for Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit and Challenge~ The deadline is approaching to register for Thunderbird School of Global Management’s second annual Sustainable Innovation Summit which draws top business school students from around the world for a global competition to develop sustainable innovative business solutions for real-world companies.

September 18, 2008
 Business for Diplomatic Action & Thunderbird team to offer program on global corporate diplomacy~In an age of hyper-globalism and a waning economy, U.S. business must be surefooted in knowing how to engage with the rest of the world to maintain a competitive edge. In response, the nation’s top business-led public diplomacy advocate and the No. 1 school of global management education are joining forces to help multinational corporations better understand foreign cultures in order to operate more successfully and diplomatically across borders.

September 11, 2008
 Workers need more ethics training, panelists contend~Covering the policy manual during new employee orientation is nice, but Valley business executives said Sept. 11 at Thunderbird School of Global Management that workers need additional ethics training to help them navigate the many gray areas they will encounter in the world of global business.

September 10, 2008
 Thunderbird alumnus to be sworn in as U.S. ambassador~ Thunderbird School of Global Management alumnus Philip T. Reeker, who graduated from the school in 1991, will be sworn in today as the U.S. ambassador to Macedonia in Washington.

September 9, 2008
 Thunderbird professor finds brain scans don't detect lies but do show culture~ Brain scanners don’t work as lie detectors. But new research from a Thunderbird professor and 15 co-authors shows that brain scans do reveal information about a person’s culture.

September 3, 2008
 Thunderbird changes its address to reflect global mission, history~ Thunderbird School of Global Management has officially changed its address to 1 Global Place. The change reflects Thunderbird’s history as the world’s first and oldest graduate management school focused exclusively on global business.

September 2, 2008
 Thunderbird hosting Ethics Day celebration, panel discussion~The Lincoln Center for Ethics in Global Management is hosting a panel discussion on business ethics and honoring Thunderbird Trustee David Lincoln and his wife Joan for a $2.6 million pledge from their family foundation to further the work of the ethics center they helped found in 2005 at Thunderbird School of Global Management.

August 27, 2008
 Valley firm joins Thunderbird Global Entrepreneurship Incubator~MyndSparc Enterprises, a new Valley-based enterprise, announced today it has taken residence at the Thunderbird Global Entrepreneurship Incubator (TGEI) at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz. As a resident of the incubator, the company will receive office space and equipment, and access to the state-of-the-art resources, faculty and students at Thunderbird.

August 20, 2008
 Thunderbird Kicks off $20,000 sustainabile innovation competition~Thunderbird School of Global Management’s third annual Global Sustainable Innovation Summit opens early registration today. The global competition draws the brightest graduate-level students from top universities around the world, and requires students to develop sustainable and innovative business solutions to real-world challenges presented by sponsoring companies.

August 15, 2008
 Risk taking doesn't always pay off for executives~Executives get paid to take risks, but they should pause and consider their motives before rolling the dice, a Thunderbird professor said this week at a global conference in Anaheim, Calif.

August 13, 2008
 Thunderbird produces 'paper of the year' again~For the second year in a row, Thunderbird School of Global Management’s esteemed faculty produced the “Paper of the Year” in the Academy of Management Perspectives journal. David Bowen, Ph.D., won the 2007 award Aug. 12 at the academy’s annual conference in Anaheim, Calif., for a paper on organizational justice that he co-authored with two University of Arizona researchers.

August 11, 2008
 It pays to be civil, Thunderbird professor says at conference ~Companies pay for the little acts of rudeness that often go unchecked or unrecognized in the workplace, Thunderbird School of Global Management Professor Christine Pearson, Ph.D., said Aug. 10 at a global conference in Anaheim, Calif.

August 8, 2008
 Supply of Mexican workers will dry up, consul says~Mexican workers leaving the United States in response to heightened immigration enforcement will be missed in the coming decades as millions of baby boomers retire, a Mexican consul said Aug. 7 at Thunderbird School of Global Management.

August 6 , 2008
 Thunderbird launching class on doing business in India~Thunderbird has launched “Doing Business in India” — a comprehensive, online certificate program on the dynamics of Indian business. The new four-week program offers working professionals the tools and knowledge they need to work effectively within India’s business, political and cultural environment.

July 31, 2008
 Afghan women entrepreneurs to receive free laptops during Thunderbird program~The incoming class of women entrepreneurs from Afghanistan, who will arrive on Thunderbird’s Glendale campus this fall for Project Artemis, will receive free computers donated this week by Microchip Vice President of Information Services Rob Owen, a 2006 graduate of Thunderbird. Owen donated 15 executive-level laptops, software and carrying cases to the program, which provides business training and mentorship to women of Afghanistan.

July 28, 2008
 Thunderbirds volunteer to help community organizations~Volunteers from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz., worked at the Phoenix Zoo, a Habitat for Humanity construction site, an inner-city middle school, and the Children’s Angel Foundation during the summer 2008 edition of ThunderCares Day July 26.

July 16, 2008
 Book shares guidelines for global project management~Thunderbird professors Robert Moran and William Youngdahl are passionate about creating a new area of thought leadership at Thunderbird called Global Project Leadership. In their new book, Leading Global Projects: For Professional and Accidental Project Leaders, Moran and Youngdahl argue that global projects and initiatives require new era leaders with increasingly sophisticated skills.

July 14, 2008
 Thunderbird business journal review receives award~Thunderbird International Business Review (TIBR), the business school’s journal of global management, received an Award of Excellence from Awards for Publication Excellence (APEX) in the category of best redesign. The annual competition was open to writers, editors and business and nonprofit communicators.

July 11, 2008
 Summer brings global travel for 159 Thunderbird students~Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Panama, Dubai, Sweden, Hungary, Slovenia and the United Kingdom were the backdrops for two- to three-week learning experiences that took 159 Thunderbird School of Global Management students around the globe as part of the school’s recent Summerim experiences.

July 8, 2008
 Emerging markets offer vast opportunities for private equity~Private equity is facing an intensely more challenging environment than it was a year ago, including costlier leverage, lender difficulties in debt distribution, rising default prospects and less-levered capital structures.

June 30, 2008
 LG Electronics managers earn customized MBAs ~LG Electronics managers earned customized MBAs from Thunderbird School of Global Management on June 28 in Glendale, Ariz. Thunderbird developed the custom program exclusively for LG in Seoul, South Korea. About 150 of LG’s top managers and engineers will participate in the multiyear, multimillion-dollar program, which produced its first graduating class in June 2006.

June 26, 2008
 Cold Stone exec stays true to the brand in Japan~Consultants warned Cold Stone Creamery in 2004 that singing for happy customers just wouldn’t work in Japan. That didn’t sit well with Cold Stone executive Lee Knowlton, who spoke June 25 in Rick Baer’s global brand management class at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz.

June 26, 2008
 Demand for MBA graduates strong despite sluggish economy~Demand for talented MBA graduates remains strong despite a sluggish economy, and employers are beginning to tap the growing pool of MBAs coming out of online and part-time programs, according to Thunderbird executive Kip Harrell, who was appointed president of the MBA Career Services Council June 26.

June 25, 2008
 Thunderbird appoints dean of faculty, head of admissions ~Thunderbird School of Global Management appointed Dr. Dale Davison dean of faculty and Jay Bryant head of admissions. Davison will oversee faculty recruitment, hiring, contracts, performance and development

June 24, 2008
 Students help U.S. Olympic squad build its brand~Thunderbird students met with the U.S. men’s water polo team in Los Angeles to analyze the team’s brand strengths and weaknesses, gather market research and put together a plan that the U.S. squad can incorporate into its overall business strategy. They are part of a class competition that gives students real-world experience by pairing them with companies that pay for Thunderbird consultation.

June 17, 2008
 Thunderbird history showcased through Arizona Memory Project ~A photo history depicting the World War II airbase known as “Thunderbird Field I” and the early years of Thunderbird School of Global Management is now available as part of the Arizona Memory Project, an online effort to provide public access to the wealth of primary sources in Arizona libraries, archives, museums and other cultural institutions.

May 30, 2008
 Thunderbird kicks off Innovation Summit and $20,000 Challenge~Thunderbird is preparing for its third annual Global Sustainable Innovation Summit that draws the brightest graduate-level students from top universities around the world.

April 30, 2008
 Global learning network extends to Middle East~Thunderbird continues to expand its global learning network through partnerships with top business schools around the world, including its first partnership in the Middle East with Zayed University in United Arab Emirates.

April 29, 2008
 Thunderbird trustee appointed U.S. Ambassador to Finland~The appointment of Thunderbird Trustee Barbara Barrett as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Finland was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 29. She is an international business and aviation attorney and corporate executive.

April 18, 2008
 Multimillion-dollar pledges jumpstart campaign~Thunderbird has received several multimillion-dollar commitments to its capital campaign from members of the school’s board of trustees and alumni, including $10 million from alumnus and Trustee Scott Walker and $5 million from campaign chairs Barbara and Craig Barrett. These significant commitments bring the total to $38.6 million, which is 59.4 percent of Campaign Thunderbird’s $65 million goal.

April 7, 2008
 Thunderbird Among First 100 to endorse Principles for Responsible Management Education ~The Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), a UN-backed global initiative developed to promote corporate responsibility and sustainability in business education, has now been endorsed by more than 100 business schools and universities from around the world, including Thunderbird School of Global Management, which played a key role in developing the principles.

March 19, 2008
 Thunderbird hosting golf benefit at Grayhawk ~Thunderbird School of Global Management is hosting its inaugural golf tournament to benefit the Thunderbird Global Private Equity Center and a scholarship fund, which supports students pursuing careers in private equity. The event will be held at Grayhawk Golf Club’s Talon Course April 5 and will include participation from global investment leaders from around the world who are gathering earlier that week for Thunderbird’s annual Global Private Equity and Venture Capital Conference.

March 14, 2008
 Thunderbird takes oil & gas program to the Middle East~Thunderbird School of Global Management is offering its successful Advanced Management Program for Oil & Gas in the Middle East through a partnership with the Center for Management & Professional Development, the community outreach arm of the University of Dubai. The program, which will be held in Dubai from 10 to 15 May 2008, is the first time it will be offered in the region. The program uses current oil and gas industry examples to examine how management strategies and styles have changed as companies and workforces become more global and diverse.

March 5, 2008
 Thunderbird Joins 10,000 Women~Thunderbird today announced it will be an initial partner with The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) of 10,000 Women, a global initiative that will provide 10,000 underserved women, predominantly in developing and emerging markets, with a business and management education. The initiative will invest in a largely untapped yet significant resource – the exponential power of women as entrepreneurs and managers. 10,000 Women establishes partnerships between universities in the U.S. and Europe and business schools in emerging and developing countries to improve the quality and capacity of business education in developing regions around the world.

February 18, 2008
 Thunderbird Celebrating Homecoming Feb. 29-March 2~Thunderbird School of Global Management is hosting its annual Homecoming Feb. 29 – March 2 with a full weekend of activities including a student/alumni rugby match and business presentations by faculty members on workplace civility and business intelligence.

February 11, 2008
 Thunderbird Inks First Dual Degree Partnership with Law School ~Thunderbird School of Global Management is continuing to expand its global learning network with a new partnership that for the first time links the school’s global management education with a law school.

January 31, 2008
 Thunderbird Tees Up Leadership Program at the Westin Kierland Resort ~Thunderbird School of Global Management is taking the concept of doing business on the golf course to new levels. March 17-20, the school is partnering with The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale and GolfTEC to offer a four-day program in leadership that will include sessions both on and off the golf course.

January 28, 2008
 "Financial Times" Ranks Thunderbird No. 1 in International Business ~Thunderbird has been ranked No. 1 in International Business by the Financial Times in its annual worldwide ranking of full-time MBA programs, which were announced today.

January 23, 2008
 Thunderbird Ranked Among World's Best for Distance Learning MBA~Thunderbird School of Global Management was named one of the top business schools worldwide for distance learning by the Economist Intelligence Unit Jan. 23 in its first ranking of distance learning MBA programs.

January 3, 2008
 Thunderbird Names Craig and Barbara Barrett to Head Strategic Campaign~Thunderbird School of Global Management has named Craig and Barbara Barrett to chair Campaign Thunderbird, a $65 million dollar capital campaign for students, faculty, classrooms and research at the world’s leading school of global management.