| Thunderbird School of Global Management | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1946 |
| Type | Private business school |
| Endowment | $16.9 million[1] |
| President | Ángel Cabrera |
| Academic staff | 69 |
| Students | 1,368 683 MBA 126 Executive MBA |
| Location | Glendale, AZ, USA |
| Website | www.thunderbird.edu |
Thunderbird School of Global Management is a private business school whose main campus is located in Glendale, Arizona. Founded in 1946 by retired U.S. Army Air Forces Lieutenant General Barton Kyle Yount (1884–1949), it is arguably the oldest graduate school specializing in international management and global business.[2][3]
Since its founding, the school has consistently been known as Thunderbird, after the converted army air base where its campus was established. However, its official name has changed several times, as shown below:
Thunderbird has over 40,000 alumni and 150 alumni chapters in 141 countries throughout the world.[4] T-Bird alumni have a long-standing tradition, called First Tuesday, where on the first Tuesday of every month in major cities across the globe alumni gather for informal socializing and networking opportunities.
The school received regional accreditation in 1969 from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). In 1994, it was accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
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After World War II, U.S. Army Air Forces Lieutenant General Barton Kyle Yount acquired a former military airbase, Thunderbird Field, whose property was valued at US$407,000, for a token amount on the condition that it be used as a school for at least ten years. (Postwar policy allowed government property to be purchased at great discounts if intended for educational use.) A 1946 congressional investigation into the land sale exonerated Yount of any wrongdoing.
With Yount as its first president, the school was chartered on April 8, 1946 as the American Institute for Foreign Trade (a nonprofit corporation). Classes began on October 1, 1946, and the first class of 234 students graduated on June 14, 1947. The school offered only one degree, a Bachelor of Foreign Trade (BFT), in a curriculum which originally emphasized the Spanish and Portuguese languages and Latin American business culture. (Observing the difficulties faced by Americans doing business overseas, Yount sought to offer a course of studies that would correct their shortcomings.)
Although the BFT was billed as a four-year degree, the actual course of studies required two years. Students were expected to bring in transfer credits amounting to the first two years.
The earliest classes were overwhelmingly men studying under the G.I. Bill. (In 1951 there were 10 female students, four of them World War II veterans). About half the students were married men, many of whom brought their families.[5] (Wives were encouraged to enroll in language classes.) In those days the students were all American citizens. The first foreign students enrolled in 1958, and their proportion steadily increased until 9-11, reaching some 60 % of the student body.
After Yount's death in 1949, a "Barton Kyle Yount Award" was created to honor the best student in the graduating class. Its first recipient (in 1950) was Robert Frohse, later executive director of the Hearst Corporation.[6]
In 1953, the school logo (which had been affixed to several repurposed aircraft hangars) allegedly inspired the name of the U.S. Air Force demonstration flight team, the Thunderbirds.[7]
In 1965, the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded the school the President's "E" Certificate for Export Service (later upgraded to an "E-star" ranking). A small flag signifying this flies in front of the school.[8]
Marketing professor Edwin H. Coleman (formerly of Upjohn; taught 1962–1966) began an "Interad" class, in which students carry out projects on behalf of real companies, and are judged by their executives. It is now one of Thunderbird's most sought-after classes.[9]
Under the presidency of Arthur L. Peterson (served 1966-69), Thunderbird received regional accreditation; the size of the student body doubled from an average of 250-300 in the early years, to 503 in 1967; several significant building projects were undertaken, including a library; the name of the school was changed to the Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management; and the BFT was phased out in favor of a Master of International Management (MIM) degree. A pilot, Peterson was known for landing his plane on Thunderbird field.[10][11]
William Voris (served 1971–1989) continued many of the same trends. Academically, professorial qualifications improved, and the school adopted a "tripartite" curriculum consisting of business, international studies, and language. An Arabist, Voris established overseas study programs in several foreign countries—including cooperative agreements with the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) and the Beijing Institute of Foreign Trade (1980)[12]--and again changed the name of the school (replacing "Thunderbird" with "American") on the grounds that "Thunderbird" did not always translate well into other languages. He also organized the school's first executive education programs.[13]
Yount's grandson, Barton Kyle "Buzz" Yount III, attended the school in 1970-71.
The Thunderbird Hot Air Balloon Classic was first held in 1975, on the Thunderbird campus itself (which had been designed as an airfield). The event became an annual festival featuring student-run food-booths and the like. It was moved to the Glendale Airport in 1989 and then, in 1991, to Scottsdale's Westworld.[14]
Originally unique, Thunderbird began to encounter direct competition from other international business programs in the 1980s. In response the school's marketing literature emphasized the "Thunderbird mystique" (referring to the school's distinct identity and formidable alumni network) and "a difference of degree" (the MIM over the traditional Master of Business Administration (MBA)). By the 2000s, however, most business schools had acquired a global focus. Thunderbird, surrendering to the trend, converted its flagship degree into an MBA in International (later Global) Management.
In 1994, the AACSB reversed a longstanding policy which made "mixed" programs such as Thunderbird's ineligible for accreditation. Thunderbird's was the first such program to be thus accredited.
During the 1990s, the school began publishing the Thunderbird International Business Review, a bimonthly academic journal.[15]
The 1990s and 2000s brought financial upheaval as MBA programs in general fell out of favor during the internet bubble, and foreign student enrollment plummeted after 9-11. In 2001, 30 faculty members were "bought out" or given early retirement; 2004 saw staff cuts of 25%. Student enrollment dropped to a low of 700 in 2003, down from an average of 1,500 during the 1990s. Speculation to the effect that the school would close, or be taken over by another institution, was rife. In 2004, an unprecedented pledge of $60 million (by alumnus Sam Garvin and his wife Rita) seemed to forestall these possibilities,[16] and the name of the school was accordingly changed to "the Garvin School of International Management"--a change reverted when Garvin proved unable to make good on the promised donation.
In August 2004, Angel Cabrera, formerly dean of IE Business School in Madrid, Spain, became the first foreign-born president of the School, succeeding Roy A. Herberger Jr. Under his leadership the School underwent a major operational and financial restructuring and launched various new programs. The School has been operating with financial surpluses since 2006 and it delivered record revenues and increase in net assets in 2011. In October of 2011 the School announced the successful completion of a $65 million, 5 year fundraising campaign chaired by Craig and Barbara Barrett.
Since 2004, Thunderbird sponsored "Project Artemis," aimed at developing entrepreneurial skills among Afghan women. In addition, partnerships with investment bank Goldman Sachs, the InterAmerican Development Bank, the U.S. Dept. of State, mining company Freeport McMoRan and the Australian Government helped Thunderbird train hundreds of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan, Jordan, and Latin America.
Thunderbird's honor code (developed during 2005, and approved by the Board of Trustees in 2006) may have been the first MBA Oath. (Text below.)
In April 2006 the school celebrated its 60th anniversary by announcing a new mission / vision / belief statement:
In that same year was approved the following (optional) Oath of Honor:
Today (as of 2010), Thunderbird's main degree is the MBA in Global Management. Students may select concentrations in global finance, marketing, management, and/or development. The curriculum evolved from that of the Master of International Management (MIM) degree, offered between 1971 and 2001.
In addition, Thunderbird offers other full-time graduate programs:
Before Thunderbird switched to the MBA, it entered into several dual-degree agreements whereby students could earn an MBA from another institution, and the MIM from Thunderbird. After the switch, it continued to award the MIM to dual-degree students on the basis of these agreements, but has now phased out the MIM in favor of the three non-MBA options listed above.
Thunderbird also offers the following degrees:
Thunderbird Online - Executive Certificates, Foundations for Global Business, Certificate in Global Oil & Gas Management
| School rankings (overall) | |
|---|---|
| U.S. MBA | |
| Bloomberg BusinessWeek[17] | Tier 2 |
| U.S. News & World Report[18] | 75 |
| Worldwide MBA | |
| Economist[19] | 87 |
| Financial Times[20] | 68 |
With its student body of a thousand or so, Thunderbird can be viewed as a small school, or as a huge graduate department. The fact that it is unaffiliated with a larger university (and thus foregoes the resources and access to undergraduate teaching that such an affiliation would provide) has affected its academic life and reputation. The school tends to do well in rankings which specifically evaluate programs in international business, and less well in general measures. Business Week, for example, considers Thunderbird a "second-tier" business school as of 2009[21] (and has held the same opinion since it first began to consider the school in 1996).
US News & World Report has ranked Thunderbird as the #1 school in international business for 15 consecutive years.[22][23] The 2005 Business Week rankings place Thunderbird in the Top 50 Full-time MBA program (fifth consecutive time) and in the Top 10 for "Best & Brightest", Global Scope. Thunderbird was ranked #1 for Academic Excellence in International Business in the United States (as judged by U.S. recruiters), #1 Regionally, and #5 for top International Schools overall in Europe and North America (as judged by global recruiters) by Wall Street Journal in 2007.[24] In 2009, the Economist ranked Thunderbird as the #2 MBA in the world for "Potential to Network" and #2 for "Internationalism of Alumni".[25] In the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report[26] the Thunderbird School of Global Management was ranked 17th in North America.
In 2008, 2009, and 2010, Thunderbird was ranked #1 by The Financial Times Global MBA Rankings - "A League of Their Own/Top Schools by Subject" for “Best in International Business”,[27][28][29] #10 for "Top for Corporate Social Responsibility” in 2010[29] and #10 in “Top for Aims Achieved” in 2009[30] In the Financial Times 2009 “Top 10’s in Selected Open Enrollment Categories” – #7 in US Schools, #5 in European Schools and #9 in Quality of Participants.[31]
Thunderbird has 6 main research, knowledge and information centers known collectively as the Thunderbird Centers for Excellence.[32]
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