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Alumni give time, money in innovative scholarshipAlumni give time, money in innovative scholarship

Thunderbird scholars from Colombia, Ghana, Jordan, Peru, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zimbabwe have an edge in the down economy. As recipients of an innovative new scholarship that requires donors to pledge their time and money, they have access to a global network of mentors committed to their success.

Edgardo Paredes Tuesta from Peru already has tapped into this network. He received guidance this summer from donor-mentor David Young when he went looking for an internship in his chosen field.

Young, a 1991 Thunderbird graduate based in London, reached out to Alejandro Espinal, a 1995 Thunderbird graduate from Colombia. The result for Paredes was a summer internship in Miami at AF International, a global management consulting firm led by Espinal.

“It was a perfect fit for me,” said Paredes, a Fulbright Scholar with work experience in Brazil and other parts of Latin America.

Scholarship recipient Pellagia Muliba tapped into the network to find her own internship at the T&J Meyer Family Foundation in London. Donor-mentor Tim Meyer, a 1970 Thunderbird graduate, facilitated the arrangement as former co-owner of Kettle Chips and co-founder of the family foundation.

Muliba, a Master of Arts student from Zimbabwe, said the full-tuition award and mentoring have transformed her life. “To change a life is not something small,” she said. “It’s big. It’s giving somebody the opportunity to dream.”

The success stories are exactly what Thunderbird Trustee Marshall Parke envisioned when he began formulating a plan in 2007 to provide scholarships for students from developing countries who might otherwise lack the resources to attend Thunderbird.

Parke, a 1977 Thunderbird graduate based in London, knows the value of education. But he also understands from his experience working in emerging markets that students need access to strong networks and professional mentoring.

With these considerations in mind, he developed the Thunderbird SHARE Program, an alumni-funded scholarship/mentorship program for students from emerging markets who want to return to their home countries after graduation and make a difference.

“We have no roadmap to follow with this program,” Parke said Oct. 2 during a private dinner with scholarship recipients. “Nobody else has a scholarship like this.”

Overall, 14 initial donors have pledged about $1.2 million to support the SHARE Program. Each donor also has pledged to serve as a lifetime mentor for the scholars.

The donor-mentors come from all parts of the world and represent a range of industries. They include Parke, Young, Meyer and Thunderbird graduates Merle Hinrichs, Brian O’Neill, Mike Halvorson, Ken Lambert, Raymundo Yu, Tom Malone, Bob Dudley, Maria Houle Soldatos, Rahul Nayar and Steve Sheldon, who joined the program with his father, Doug Sheldon.

In addition to Paredes and Muliba, initial scholarship recipients include Juan Pombo from Colombia, Tettey Wilson-Tei from Ghana, Reem Nassar from Jordan, Lilian Mramba from Tanzania and Hao Diep from Vietnam.