50th Anniversary 1995

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CONGRESSIONAL SCRUTINY
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form
:i? Air Base Gift to nune ;0."
~~~:~ School He Heads vtter I
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:tt nted
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.MEnICAN Institute For Foreign Trade's tenure
" d ~' .. IJ~ .pc~man~n~. as.~. ~esu l t of fi nal
'erbird Chanqes
, Type Training Girc
1 For Work· Of Peac(
COVEH STOHY
2 THE FOUNDING
A New Idea is Born
Like the Phoenix bird that rose from its own ashes,
Thunderbird rose triumphantly from the aftermath of
World War II. Here is the story of its fortuitous beginning
8 GUIDING THE SCHOOL TO GREATNESS
Presidential Leadership
Eight presidents have led Thunderbird through its
50-year history. All had strong international backgrounds,
all knew for certain Thunderbird's potential for greatness,
and all were called at some point to fight off serious
threats to the School's unique identity. In the end,
however, each president moved the School forward
in his own individual way
42 PIONEER STUDENTS
Those Very First Years
Jack Rokahr '47 recalls life as one of the very first T'birds
at the American Institute of Foreign Trade
I FEATVHES
24 TECHNOLOGY
The Future Begins Now
Thunderbird is transforming the way it creates and
delivers its product
27 INTERAD
Brand Name Wmner
Thunderbird's most famous adveltising and marketing
course has a rich history of success
34 CAREER SERVICES
Timing is Everything
Job markets fluctuate, but T'birds have always succeeded
36 FOREIGN PROGRAMS
Total Inunersion
Overseas programs have provided valuable linguistic and
cultural immersion for scores of students
38 MEDIA
A Controversial Start
The School's #1 ranking in 1996 by u.s. News generated
much publicity-but not quite as much as Thunderbird's
controversial opening in 1946
PHOTO GALLERY
30 FACU LTY
Thunderbird professors have shaped students' futures
for half a century
44 COMMENCEMENT
From 1947 to 1996, this rite of passage has been shared
by generations of T'birds
40 LIBRARY
Remember Lora Jeanne Wheeler?
18 BALLOON RACE
Student food booths were a highlight of the balloon
race on campus
28 THEN & NOW
The School has grown a lot over the years-the Tower is
now a student center, the open Mall is filled with build­ings,
the entrance is further south on 59th Avenue, and
the old Army barracks are now modern residence
halls-but that same T'bird mystique remains
,1:1 D EPAHT~I ENTS
49 UPDATES
Alumni news from around the world
ALUMNI MEMORIES
"The memories stiU are aU
magnificent. "
Diego J. Veitia '66, Chairman and CEO,
International Assets Holding
Corporation [52]
46 CAMPUS NEWS
• New World Wide Web site
• BKY library now high-tech communications facility
• Former CNN chief speaks at commencement
• Executive Partner Program launched
• 50th anniversary receptions scheduled
plus more!
ON TH E COV ER: Joe Culver '57 puts a bear hug
on his son, Andrew Culver '86, at commencement;
Dr. William Schurz, Latin American expert and one of
Thunderbird's most beloved professors; The Thwer,
now used as the Thunderbird Student Center.
A New Idea Is Born
he creation of Thunderbird generated a lot of heat-not
just the temperature kind, but the controversy kind.
The story of what is now the world's leading graduate school
of international management began at the end of World War II.
Finley P·eter Dunne and W. Stouder Thompson, two
colonels in the Army Air Forces (AAF), had an idea for a new
kind of school-one that would train people to conduct foreign
trade. As they were winding down their post-war duties, the
two began to talk about the future of the country.
"In the course of our conversation," Dunne recalls, "the point
was raised that the United States, for many years to come,
would be in a position to expand its trade with other nations on
a large scale. The fact was also mentioned that, although we
had the raw materials and the technical capacity to produce
and deliver the goods, this country was notoriously short of
personnel trained for foreign trade."
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
The more Dunne and Thompson talked, the more they real­ized
that the industrial power America had built up to fight the
war would be turning out goods for an international market­place.
Furthermore, they had an even more revolutionary
idea-that the people who would be going into that market­place
should be trained for it.
Neither of the two was an educator, and they wanted "a
first-rate educational man" to lead this venture. Who better,
they thought, than Lt. General Barton Kyle Yount, who
headed the largest educational institution the world has ever
seen. As head of the Army Air Training Command, Yount was
widely respected for having developed training programs for
more than two million army personnel during the war.
At first Yount was cautious. "His interest, while genuine, was
dependent upon the results of further investigation of the
scope of such a school and of the amount to which it might
THUNDERBIRD 50 I 3 I 1996
Like the Phoenix bird that rose from its
own ashes, Thunderbird rose from the
aftermath of World War II
benefit veterans and other students, business
concerns, and the foreign policy of the United
States," Dunne reported.
Dunne and Thompson went to New York "to
investigate the market for graduates of such a
school as we proposed, " visiting companies like
the National City Bank, General Electric,
Westinghouse, 20th Century Fox Films and sev­eral
others that conducted international busi­ness.
Yount then accompanied Thompson and
Dunne to check out Thunderbird Field I as a possible site. Later
the three visited Dunne's alma mater, Harvard, to consult with
some of the graduate school's business faculty about the pro­posed
educational program.
"It was the clear understanding of all concerned that the pro­posed
Institute must be of the highest caliber and that there
THUNDERBIRD 50 /3/ 1996
KYLE YOUNT, mE
SCHOOCS FIRST
PRESIDENT, HAD BEEN
COMMANDER OF mE
ARMY AIR FORcEs
TRAINING COMMAND.
must be no question whatever as to the
quality of the instruction offered or of the
high standing of the faculty." Dunne said.
The founding trio became a duo in
June, 1946 when Thompson, who felt his
financial situation could not sustain his
participation in a nonprofit venture,
returned to his business ventures in
Cleveland.
"UNQUESTIONABLY OUR BEST REPRESENTATIVES ABROAD"
Yount was finally convinced. "I knew that the young men
who were going to foreign countries to represent American
business were, in many cases, entirely untrained and unfit to
represent their firms and their government," Yount said.
"Unquestionably, our best representatives abroad are those
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
NOTICE OF SALE
SURPLUS GOVERNMENT
Tho l~~~n~~r..RA~~EO~J..! of uJ \\'I\r t\~,,"f"h t\clmini~. ration herl'hy
J:'h' p~ nnticf' thnt it now hll~ f\vaJl­..
hi" tor elispo""l, IInelrr the Sur­pl"
o "rnpHly Art of 1!IH anel SPA
n,·,·. R.·~u l"tion II. tho followlnlt
r,·,,1 prnflrrty whie·1t hllll I",en dn­"
I"rpel .. orpill. hy tlto Governm~nt.
, Thunderbird Field No. I,
Plancor No. 488
Thullderbh'd Field in Arizona
Becomes Latin-Anlerica School
GRA..NT TO "EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION"
INDER CONGRESSIONAL SCRUTINY
Comminee AUo 10 Look!
~~'::'2 Yount Defends • The Instllu ..
!fJj;~ Air Base Gift to era! IOYernJIIIl
vet1ed Into • $
:~~[~~ :School He Heads married velel1 I
~A~: ~:V;S'., General and Colonel
Instt No n ed
Title To Field
THE AMERICAN Institute For Foreign Trade's tenure on
Thund . d" .. b~ . pc~man:n~. as .!l. ~~slllt of final ap-l
·hunderbird Chanqes
New Type Training Girds
Men For Work· Of Peace
~ra "" - •• I - - ...............
..... ,,-- ~ ! Foreign Trade Schooli
; Graduates Go 10 Jobs !
! ,
; Rr~~~~~I!t ~r~z'A;:;!)~ca~rS~ ;.~~ i
tule for Forel -- e '
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SPEC IAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 4
who come in close contact with the people through their busi­ness
associations and who, therefore, learn their customs, psy­chology,
and their way of thinking. They can make friends for
our COlIDtry; or they can make enemies. "
YOlIDt and Durme insisted that those business people should
not only mow the intricacies of conducting trade, but should
also be familiar with the "various backgrolIDd factors that
would in1luence their work and life" in other cOlIDtries. And
equally important, they should speak the language of the peo­ple
they were working with. In 1946, that meant Spanish and
Portuguese for the Latin American market.
At that time, the fOlIDders had Americans in mind as stu­dents.
Little did they mow that 50 years from then, more than
a third of the students would be from other cOlIDtries. But that
may have been the only error in their thinking, because other­wise,
they were clearly ahead of their time. It would be 25
years before any school came close to the ThlIDderbird con­cept
and another 15 years before the idea of international busi­ness
education captured the attention of the academic world
The officers mew that ThlIDderbird Field I was being deac­tivated
and soon to be declared war surplus, and perhaps they
might obtain the property at a discolIDt through the Surplus
Property Act, which provided "discolIDts to nonprofit, nontax­able
educational institutions on acCOlIDt of benefits which may
accrue to the United States." The base was known as the
"COlIDtry Club of the Air Forces" for what one newspaper
THUNDERBIRD 50 I 3 I 1996
described as "its architectural beauty and fine landscaping, n
and it seemed to be an ideal location. After all, it had two
swimming pools.
AN INVESTIGATION
Dunne and Yount submitted a bid for the airfield, which was
valued at $407,000, and obtained it at 100 percent discount-lit­erally
a gift-raising a furor that extended from coast to coast.
A Congressional investigation into the property ensued, led by
Rep. Roger Slaughter, chairman of the House Surplus Property
Committee. Were these army officers profiteering from the war
assets? Was this a legitimate nonprofit school or a profit-mak­ing
scam to get government property? Had the General deliber­ately
had Thunderbird Field declared surplus property in order
to secure it for his own purposes? Were the appraisers who rec­ommended
that the property be used for a school in cahoots
with the General?
In an article headlined "Here's How to Get Free Gift of
$407,000 of U.S. Property, n a Washington Daily News reporter
wrote, "What's the matter with War Assets Administration?
Why can't poor old Uncle Sam sell screen, wire, nails, air fields,
like any other property owner without getting wrapped in red
tape and bogged doubtful deals?"
Dozens of similar articles appeared in newspapers across the
country. The investigation was big news, and it was clear that
the committee chairman, Roger Slaughter, wanted to make an
THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996
example of this case. Newspapers around the country covered
the hearings of the House Surplus Property Committee. An arti­cle
in the Washington Post reported that "The appraisers said
they considered that of all possible uses of Thunderbird-a
home for the aged or orphans, a hospital, a sanitarium, a private
flying school, an agricultural packing plant, or a resort hotel­they
felt that the private school for boys would develop the
highest value. n
Finally, after eloquent testimony from Yount and Dunne plus
Phoenix businessmen Alfred Knight, Walter Bimson, Frank
Brophy, and A F. Morairity, with especially convincing argu­ments
by Frank Snell (phoenix attorney and founding board
member for whom the Snell Learning Center is named) the
committee exonerated the School. Not only did the School fully
qualify for the nonprofit discount, the Congressmen agreed, but
it would actually contribute to the cause of world peace, an
objective that was written into the mission of the School.
SIX MONTHS TO LIFTOFF
From its incorporation on April 8, 1946, until its opening day
on October 1, Dunne and Yount had less than six months to
establish a curriculum, assemble a faculty, acquire furnishings,
remodel classrooms, and recruit a student body. And in
between, they had more than a month of battling with Congress.
Somehow they did it all. Bankers Trust and Chase in New
York, along with Valley National Bank, the Bank of Douglas,
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
ELOQlJENT TESTIMONY
"This is the first school of its kind in the
United States, and I expect it to
become much larger and of great
importance."
QUOTES FROM TESTIMONY
SEPT. 5, 1946 TO THE HOUSE
COMMITTEE ON SURPLUS PROPERTY
REGARDING THE ACQUISITION
"Our interviews with leading educators
in Boston, New York, and Washington
had convinced us that the proposed
Institute was on the right track, and
would render a real service to this
country."
A. F. MORAIRITY,
FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER
OF THUNDERBIRD FIELD I BY
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR
FOREIGN TRADE FINLEY PETER DUNNE
" ... such a school made a lot of sense;
that it would be .. . a real contribution to
the welfare of the Nation, particularly
in furthering the good neighbor policy
with the countries to the south of us.
It seemed to us to be a sound and
concrete proposal for helping to better
our relations with these countries."
FRANK SNEIL,
FOUNDING TRUSTEE
"We have today under contract the
majority of a faculty of 18 members, all
of whom are of first-rank caliber and
all of whom are acknowledged authori­ties
in their particular fields. At a cost
of more than $50,000, the Institute has
completed the rehabilitation of the
buildings and grounds of Thunderbird
Field No. 1."
"The need for a school such as the
American Institute for Foreign Trade is
apparent to anyone who has traveled in
foreign countries and observed how
inadequately prepared are many of our
foreign representatives. The ordinary
school for this purpose is too apt to be
inadequate because its approach is
intended to be academic, and its lead­ers
schoolmasters rather than men of
"Since this is a nonprofit institution, the affairs with large experience."
private investors could not hope for
FINLEy PETER DUNNE,
FOUNDER
FRANK C. BROPHY,
any financial reward .. .. The only --... ~---------------, FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER
reason they were willing to place
their money in this institution
was because of their confidence
in its merit and because of the
great benefit which they thought
it could render the city, the state
and the nation."
BARTON KYLE YOUNT,
FOUNDING PRESIDENT
and the First National Bank in Phoenix, provided substantial
funding in the form of unsecured loans. Dunne became secre­tary-
treasurer and director of student personnel. With a knack
for p.r., he shopped the Thtmderbird idea around the media and
the story was picked up by Collier's magazine, Business Week,
Reader's Digest, the Miami Herald, Des Moines Register, Los
Angeles Examiner and more.
Amazingly, they opened the doors on October I, 1946 to a
start-up class of 285 students, mostly Gis, including people like
Joe Klein, who would later become chairman of the board of
trustees; and Emily Adacusky, the first woman graduate, who
was hired by Standard Oil for a post in Venezuela; or the three
Backer brothers (Jolly went to work for Bank of America;
John was hired by Libby; and Robert became a trainee for The
Automobile Insurance Company).
Of all the staff members who started with Yount, Berger and
Mabel Erickson would become the most beloved of all and
would see nearly five decades of the Thunderbird Mystique.
Mabel had been Yount's secretary during the war, and he per­suaded
her to come to Arizona to help him with the Herculean
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
AFl'ER WORLD WAR n, IT WAS
DETERMINED 'l1fAT THE BEST USE OF
THUNDERBIRD FIELD WOULD BE FOR
A SCHOOL TO TEACH PEOPLE HOW
TO 00 BUSINESS IN OTHER OOUNTRIESi
'lHUS THE AMERICAN INSmUI'E FOR
FOREIGN TRADE WAS BORN.
task of the running of the School. With Mabel came her husband
Berger, and the pair would become the team that through the
years were the heart and soul of the young school. Mabel was
promoted from secretary to registrar in 1951 and later became
director of placement and alumni affairs. Berger, whom Yount
tapped to be business manager, later became executive vice
president and was known affectionately as "Mr. Thunderbird."
The early members of the board of directors (now called
trustees) were a stellar group of top echelon Phoenix business
leaders, generous with both their time and their money. It is a
tribute to their loyalty that several of the trustees on today's
board have followed in the footsteps of their fathers who
served in those early years-people like David Lincoln who
followed his father John C. Lincoln and whose generosity
made possible the Joan and David Lincoln Computer Center
and the World Business Administration Wing; E.V. "Ted"
O'Malley Jr., whose father was on the board from the first
year; Gary Herberger, whose father G. R. Herberger came
on the board in the early 1950s and served through six presi­dents;
and Dick Snell, whose father stands next to Yount and
THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996
IN SPITE OF mE SCHooCs LATIN AMERICAN
BMPHASJS, A SURPRISING NUMBER OF mE f1RST
GBADUA11NG c:LA&S STAYED IN mE STATEs, AND
A HANDFUL WENT TO MORE REMOTE OVERSEAS
LOCA'l1ONS-SHANGHAI, GUAM, SAUDI ARABIA. -­~--
Dunne as one of the founders of Thunderbird. The younger
Snell recently completed a term as chairman of the board of
Thunderbird, just as his father had so many years ago.
General Yount also named a National Advisory Council that
boasted members like Paul Litchfield, Chairman of the Board
of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; Bruce Barton, Chairman of
the Board of Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn (lmown as
BBD&O); Lowell Thomas, author and commentator; Lewis
Douglas, U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain; Henry "Hap"
Arnold, former Commanding General of the Army Air Forces;
and C. R. Smith, Chairman of the Board of American Airlines.
THEY TAUGHT THEM WELL
The faculty that gambled on a dream to teach that first year
were unique as well. Dr. Fred J. Kelly, chief of the Division of
Higher Education in the U.S. Office of Education and former
president of the University of Idaho, was selected by Yount as a
consultant to recruit the faculty. Dr. Robert W. Bradbury, for­mer
professor of foreign trade at Louisiana State University
and later chief economic analyst for the U.S. Embassy in
THUNDERBIRD 50 /31 1996
Mexico City, was the first dean of the institute and professor of
foreign trade. Dr. John C. Patterson, advisor on language and
area studies, who had resigned as chief of the division of Latin
American education relations in the national office of educa­tion,
held the title of Advisor on Academic Affairs.
Dr. Marjorie C. Johnston, professor of Spanish language
(formerly a language consultant in the U.S. Office of
Education), headed the Department of Languages for the first
year, succeeded by Dr. Howard Tessen. Dr. William Schurz,
author, scholar, and diplomat, who had held foreign service
posts in Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, and other Latin American
counties and had served a number of years in the Department
of State, became Director of the Department of Area Studies.
Those first few years were challenging, exciting and ulti­mately
rewarding for both faculty and students. Despite typical
start-up financial worries and a physical plant that left much to
be desired, there was an indomitable Thunderbird spirit that
could not-would not-be crushed. The students were a spe­cial
breed. They came from all over the United States, and they
ended up all over the world. -Nelda CroweU •
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
f a time warp could bring together the
eight presidents that have led Thunderbird
throughout its 50-year history, they would
find they have a great deal in common.
Undoubtedly
They would also find they liad even more basic values in com­mon.
Each of them had a strong international background, each
was lured by the chance to do something that really mattered,
and each knew for certain that Thunder­bird
had the potential for greatness.
All f the presidents aced the chal­lenges
inhere t in the physical facilities,
and tfiey all alked the tightrope that
stretch betw en ding and progress.
Over the yea~s, t ey also fought off
threats that }Vou d try to move the
school, change its focus, or smother it
out of exiStenae. They dealt with isola­tionism,
r cession rade constraints,
and the vagari s ofintemational politics.
Yet through all of its a -century, certain constants have
remained that no president could-or would want to-cli ge:
the three-part curriculum, the indomitable student body, the a­vor
of the old underbird Field, the learning that goes on ou -
side the classroom, the collegial environment, the Thunderb'
alumni network.
Each president moved the School forward-made it better tharl
it was before. The result is that today Thunderbird is rank (:l
number one for international business among a bilge and grpw­ing
crowd of prestigious competitors.
to
A GENTLEMAN AND AN EDUCATOR
BARTON KYLE YOUNT
APRIL 8, 1946-JULY 11,1949
f there is one word that best describes Lt. General
Barton Kyle Yount, it would be "distinguished." First
there was his distinguished appearance and demeanor­white-
haired, handsome, calm, cautious, confident, dig­nified,
modest-with the proud military bearing that one
might expect of this 1907 West Point graduate.
Then there was his distinguished military career . .As com­manding
general of the Army Air Forces Training Command, he
had been in charge of training more than two million soldiers
during World War II and had served in Paris, China, Okinawa,
and Hawaii. He had traveled around the world inspecting the
air bases under his command, and he understood what the end
of the war meant for American business.
And finally there was his distinguished manner as he testified
before the U.S. House Surplus Property Committee. The com­mittee
members were investigating the transfer of Thunderbird
Field to the newly-formed American Institute for Foreign Trade
at a 100% discount-literally giving the property away. Yount
remained calm as he told the committee, "We cannot imagine a
better use for Thunderbird Field .... In seeking to accomplish its
patriotic and much-needed purpose, the Institute is currently
assembling the finest faculty of its kind in the world," he
assured the Congressmen.
Dr. Edward E. Pratt, visiting lecturer at Thunderbird and for­mer
aide to U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson, praised
the "almost miraculous"
materialization of an idea:
"To General Yount must go
the lion's share of the credit.
I know of no other man
who could have success­fully
put together the jigsaw
pieces of this puzzle. He
refused to be discouraged
or deterred; his friendly
determination never turned
aside or turned back, nor
will it."
Yount started by picking
off three of the top people
in the U.S. Office of Educa­tion:
Dr. Fred J. Kelly,
director of the division of
higher education; Dr. John
THUNDERBIRD PRESIDENT
BARTON KYLE YOUNT VISITS
WITH SOME OF TIIE EARLY
STUDENTS WHO WOULD
SOON BECOME LEADERS IN
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS.
THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996
C. Patterson, chief of the division of Latin American education
relations; and Dr. Marjorie C. Johnston, who was in the divi­sion
of international educational relations. Then he recruited
three more experts: Wesley Frost, former Ambassador to
Paraguay; Dr. William Schurz, author of several books on
South America and widely-rec­ognized
Latin American special­ist;
and William Shaterian,
author, lawyer, and officer in
the foreign department of Na­tional
City Bank.
In his methodical military
way, born from having devel­oped
one of the world's best
army training programs, Yount
went about the task of acquir­ing
Thunderbird Field and
developing it into a peacetime THE INfTIAL FOCUS OF TIIE
school facility-not an easy SCHOOL WAS ON LATIN
task with Congress breathing AMERICA.
down his neck.
He then raised funds from businesses in Phoenix and New
York, put together a board of trustees and a prestigious national
advisory council, developed the courses that would fill out the
three-part curriculum, hired the
faculty, and acquired the student
body. All in just six months.
At Yount's death just three years
after the School started, Dr.
William Schurz wrote, "One of
those who had known General
Yount called him 'the finest gentle­man
in the Army.' He trained more
men for war than any other man in
the history of warfare; however, he
never gloried in the destruction
that war entails. And when it was
over at last, he could have settled
down in some quiet town to live
with his rich memories in a well­earned
retirement. Instead he
went to work again, and at a new
career. He wished to train young
Americans how to live among
other peoples in such a way that
they would reflect credit on them­selves
and their country. So he
founded this school, which is a liv­ing
monument to him and to his
devotion and to the greatness of
soul of a very noble figure in
American life."
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
DIPLO~IAT, AllTHOH, TEACIIEH AND SCHOLAH
WILLIAM SCHURZ
JULY, 1949-JUNE, 1951
r. Schurz never wanted to be president. He loved
teaching, and he loved writing. He loved his stu­dents,
and he loved Latin America And he loved
Thunderbird, which was why he accepted the pres­idency
after Yount's death.
Considering his distaste for the job, it's all the more amazing
that he accomplished so much in his two years as president.
When Yount died suddenly of a heart attack on July 11, 1949,
the School was shaken. Yount was more than just the founder;
he was the rock, the leader, the very personality of the School.
The selection of his successor was a major concern.
Fortunately, one of Yount's outstanding faculty hires was the
eminent diplomat, scholar, teacher, and world traveler, Dr.
trade at the University of
Houston could take certain
foreign trade courses at Thun­derbird
to be applied as elec­tives
toward their Bachelor of
Business Administration
degree. At the same time, stu­dents
from AIFT who wanted
to continue their study toward
the Bachelor of Business
Administration degree could
enroll at the University of
Houston and get degree credit
for courses at AlFT.
Another of Schurz's pro­DR.
WILLIAM SCHURZ (LEFr)
TOOK SPECIAL PRIDE IN WATCH-ING
THE STUDENTS GRADUATE
William Schurz, who from
the very start, had en­deared
himself to the fac­ulty
as well as the
students. With his great
stature in the academic
community, three degrees
from the University of
California, the respect he
had gained from the fac­ulty,
and his knowledge of
Latin America, he
jects was the development of AND HE WAS KNOWN FOR KEEP­the
first alumni fund-raising ING IN TOUCH WITII TIlE ALUMNI.
campaign that netted 263 con-was
the logical suc­cessor
to Yount,
assuming the presi­dency
in mid-year
of 1949.
But Schurz was a scholar, a writer, and a teacher. He
never liked the administration part of the School-the
fund-raising, the financial dickering, the paperwork, the
confinement. And he missed teaching. In June of 1951,
after having been president for less than two years, he
submitted his resignation.
Among his lasting accomplishments, however, was
the establishment of the Keyman program, which would
form the nucleus of executive training at Thunderbird.
The six-week program was designed to provide intensive
language and area work for domestically trained execu­tives
who would be assigned to foreign posts. Members
of the first Keyman class were from Procter and Gamble
headed to the finn's branch offices in Mexico and Cuba
Schurz also offered the first summer session, primar­ily
for language instruction, in the summer of 1951. It
was not one of his great successes. The hot summer
proved to be too much and the program was quickly dis­continued,
to be resurrected some 20 years later-after
the buildings were air-conditioned.
He also negotiated the first cooperative academic pro­gram
before Thunderbird began offering a full bachelor's
degree. Under that program, students majoring in foreign
tributors for a total of $1,875.50, not bad in 1950. More than 25
percent of the graduates in the classes of 1947 through 1950
contributed to the campaign. After Schurz's death, the alumni
would carry on the tradition by donating to
the William Schurz Library Fund.
GRATEFUL STUDENTS
The following letter was sent to Dr.
Schun by an employee of Compania
Fleischmann Colombiana, Inc. (Standard
Brands) who graduated in May, 1952.
''It's hard to realize that it's been
21/2 years since we started at AIFr.
It was truly the best year we have ever
spent. I don't mean to sound sentimen­PAUL
WILsON
TAUGHT
ACCOUNTING.
tal, but a certain
note of nostalgia
always CTeeps in
when we think
about the schooL
Everything has
worked out
beautifuUy for
us-I like my
job, we enjoy
living in Cotom­bia,
we have
a comfortable
house,ou?'
childTen aTe attending a good school,
and the prospects for the futuTe took
exceedingly bright. Now what more
can any school offer a student afle?'
only one yea?: You might be interested
to know (I'm SUTe you've heaTd this
many times before) that every COUTSe
I took at AIFI' is put to wOTk eve?Y
day .... The Spanish goes without say­ing,
what with 250 employees in the
company and
only thTee
that speak
English.
My wife has DR. FRANK JACKLE
made excel- TAUGlIT SPANISH.
lent progress
too and is 'way ahead of the non-AlET
wives who have been herefor fouT or
five yeaTS. I have Te-read YOUT book
andfind that it means a good deal
moTe to me after a yeaT of traveling
around Cotombia. We have 15
brunches here and I must audit the
books of each one, and thanks to Mr.
Wilson, I am able! Most of my time is
devoted to advertising and sales pro­motion,
so I quieUy thank Mr. Murphy
every day. I am JOTlmer impm·ting pre­mium
merchandise to be used as seif­liquidating
premiums, so equipped
with what I learned from Mr. Frikmt
and Mr. Shaterian, I can baTge Tight
into the Aduana (Customs) and aTgue
in afainy convincing style. With
the mountain of TepOTts that are the
necessary evil of aU subsidiary
companies, I thank Mr. Jackle every
day (Lord how I thank him at the end
of each quarter!) with a great deal of
humbleness, I can say that I'm doing
a good job fOT the company and have
an exceUent challengefor thefuture.
For this, a sincere Thanks to AlIT
and to aU those who make it great. "
MAKING THE COMPANIES SIT UP AND TAKE NOTICE
EDWARD R. JULIBER
JANUARY 1, 1952-JULY 1,1953
hen Ed Juliber was named president of
Thunderbird, he was an entirely different
breed from either Schurz or Yount. Newly
arrived in Phoenix, he had quickly become
acquainted with the city's business leaders,
and his reputation in international matters seemed to be a good
fit with Thunderbird.
Juliber knew he had to do two things: recruit students and
get the school on a sound financial footing. "I came to the con­clusion
that the primary responsibility of the president was to
raise enough money to keep the School in existence." Before
he had been in office two months, he announced a daunting
travel schedule that took him into the headquarters of dozens
of the nation's largest corporations.
On his first trip to California, he met with alumni and more
than a half-dozen firms. A month later, he hit the corporate cir­cuit
in the East and Midwest meeting with more than 70 compa­nies.
His argument was that the School was producing a product,
just like companies do. "The only difference between you and
us," he would say, "is that we never collect for it," and he would
give his pitch for funds in return for the employees that compa­nies
had hired from Thunderbird. When he went to see Mr. S. C.
Johnson (Johnson Wax), he says, "I memorized the names of all
the young men that Johnson had employed, and I talked to him
about different ones and the jobs they were doing for his com­pany."
It worked. S. C. Johnson becan1e a contributor.
Juliber had assumed the presidency on January 1, 1952 and
held the position only a year and a half; but the business world
beckoned. When he was asked to become vice president of
Phoenix Title and Trust, he accepted,
confident in turning over the leader­ship
to Carl Sauer, who had been
appointed by Schurz on March 20,
1950 to be assistant to the presi­dent.
Sauer had worked with
Schurz in the U.S. State Depart­ment's
Division of Cultural Rela­tions,
had a master's degree in
Spanish and education, and
had a strong international
business background.
ED JULIBER HAD A
BACKGROUND IN GOV­ERNMENT
AND HAD
SPENT A GREAT DEAL
OF TIME IN JAPAN.
CARL SAUER
JULY 1, 1953-APRIL 19,1966
hen Carl Sauer became president, Thunderbird
had already passed through its infancy, and the
initial attention it received as a unique educa­tional
concept had begun to wane. Now came
the hard part-recruiting students, maintaining
a faculty, and making ends meet.
The honeymoon was over, and
there were bills to pay.
In addition, there was a
requirement in the transfer of
the property from the War
Assets Administration that
before the School could acquire
clear title to the land, the prop­erty
had to be used ten years for
a school to teach foreign trade.
It was a heavy burden for the
president to bear in times when
international business was
THUNDERBIRD 50 /3/ 19 96 11
hardly the buzz word it is today, and a recession was looming.
For most of the 13 Sauer years, enrollment was maintained
between 175 and 275 students, and the School held its ground.
A few buildings were remodeled or expanded, new courses
were instituted as global commerce grew, and there were
minor changes in the board of
trustees.
The Keyman (executive educa­tion)
program maintained a small
but steady enrollment. The few
faculty members who left for bet­ter-
paying jobs were replaced
with new people, but otherwise it
was business as usual, and the
CARL SAUER'S PUSH FOR AFF1UA­TION
WITH THE AMERICAN MANAGE­MENT
ASSOCIATION BOOSTED THE
SCHOOr:S REPUTATION.
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
fiscal situation remained ten­uous.
Banks who believed in
the Thunderbird concept
willingly continued to loan
the School funds to keep it
afloat and just as willingly
forgave those loans.
The main blips on the
screen were a proposal to
move the School to Ellis
Island, later dropped, and the
President's "En Award, given
to the School by the President
of the United States for its
"contribution to the U.S. Ex­port
Expansion program. n
Student recruitment inclu­ded
more and more visits to
PRESIDENT SAUER
RECEIVES TIlE
PRESIDENT'S E AWARD
FOR EXPORT
EXCEILENCE, TIlE ONLY
SCHOOL TO RECEIVE SUCH
undergraduate schools, and a AN HONOR. FOR MANY
strong public relations pro- YEARS, TIlE "E" FIAG WAS
gram kept the enrollment FLOWN ON TIlE THUN-more
or less steady. DERBffiD FIAGPOLE AS A
Nevertheless, there was TRIBUTE TO THE SCHOOLS
ample proof that a Thunder- PRAGMATIC APPROACH TO
bird education was of great EDUCATION.
value to employers. When the
students graduated, .most were virtually assured of jobs.
Placement was nearly always between 80 and 90 percent­DR.
MILTON TOWNER, APPOINTED BY
SAUER, WAS TIlE POINT PERSON IN
GETTING NCAACCREDITATION.
sometimes even higher. In
response, corporate dona­tions
were more important
than ever, and efforts to
court the corporations
were constant.
On the down side, how­ever,
the condition of the
physical facilities contin­ued
a downward spiral.
Buildings and infrastruc­ture
were patched together
as the budget permitted.
Perennial problems of
water availability, inter­minable
problems with the water pumping system, deteriorat­ing
roads, and leaky roofs dominated the president's concerns.
LASTING SIGNIFICANCE
In the final assessment, two events of lasting significance
would mark the Sauer administration-affiliation with the
American Management Association and the start of efforts to
become accredited. Actual accreditation would come in 1969 dri­ven
by Dean Milton Towner, one of Sauer's major appointments.
The School's affiliation in July, 1963 with the American
Management Association gave the AMA primary responsibility
for the financial operation of the School. The move was
described by Sauer as "the single most important forward step
in the development of AIFT," although time has softened that
assessment.
The alliance proved to be a boost for the School's morale by
providing the support of a strong national organization. In real­ity,
the AMA was never called upon to provide actual dollars to
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 12
prop up the budget; but the mere fact that it
was affiliated seemed to provide a level of
security that the institution needed, and its vol­untary
contributions were significant.
The afflliation did several other things as
well: It helped publicize the School, made
AMA training programs available, added to the
Thunderbird library, helped upgrade the man­agement
course content, developed an
exchange of board members, gave advice in
legal and fiscal matters, and perhaps most
important, provided a substantial fringe bene­fit
package for Thunderbird personnel. The
AMA also provided the impetus to change the
name of the School from "institute" to "graduate school, n ulti­mately
resulting in the 1967 name change to Thunderbird
Graduate School of International Management, a name that
would last less than seven years.
When Sauer stepped down because of his health, he said,
"We are nowata significant 'take-off' point, in caliber, in enroll­ment,
in placement, in faculty, in construction of facilities. "
PRESIDENT SAUER WAS ESPECIALLY PROUD OF IDS EXTENSIVE
RECORD COLLECTION, wmCH WAS PARTIALLY DESTROYED IN A FIRE
IN 1961 ALONG WITH PROFESSOR GAONA'S ART COLLECTION.
THUNDERBIRD 50 13 1 1996
DR.ARTHUR
PETERSON
SHOWS OFF
idency of Thunderbird, the board recog­nized
his substantial accomplishments
with a traditional employees' service
PLANS FOR TIIE award. It was an award Peterson had initi­NEW
BARTON
KYLE YOUNT
MEMORIAL
LIBRARY.
ated to aclmowledge length of service-a
tie tack in the shape of the old Thunder­bird
Field logo studded with one diamond
for each five years of service.
But the award presented to Peterson by
the board had six diamonds. Peterson quipped, "This would
mean I have been at the School 30 years." The chairman
responded that the board felt he had
accomplished as much in his three
and a half years as one might expect
in 30 years, and they felt the service
award was well deserved.
LOWELL THOMAS,
WO~FAMOUSBRO~
CASTER, NARRATED
TIIE SCHOor:S FIRST
PROMOTIONAL FILM,
THE MARCO POLOS OF
THUNDERBIRD.
[LEFT] FRANK SNELL,
CHAIRMAN OF THE
BOARD AND
DR. ARTHUR PETERSON
BREAK GROUND FOR TIIE
NEW EAST APARTMENTS.
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 14
ROBERT DELANEY
SEPT. 1, 1970-MAY 20,1971
obert Delaney seemed to possess most of the qual­ifications
a Thunderbird president should have­youth,
academic credentials, overseas experience,
business experience, and fund-raising skill. He had
been director of the Edward R. Murrow Center of
Public Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
and had a winning personality.
But the board could not predict how he would do on the job,
who he would choose to be in his administration, or how he
would fit in with the Thunderbird culture. On all three counts,
Delaney and Thunderbird proved to be a poor fit. Together with
his new number two man, JOM Schott, Delaney attempted a
massive transformation for Thunderbird.
It was a transplant that did not take. Faculty and students
were in turmoil over arbitrary removal of courses, increased
requirements, inconsistent faculty poli­cies,
and a steady stream of new rules
and regulations. An atmosphere of mis­trust
and noncommunication developed
quickly.
A flurry of letters and petitions got the
attention of the board of trustees.
Schott, senior V.p. for academic affairs,
was dismissed immediately in February.
Delaney was permitted to stay to the end
of the term. And the board, in its consid­erable
wisdom, consulted a student
committee, consisting of Robert N.
Rutherford II, Oscar Cerallo, Todd
Hall, Fred Leenerts, and Barton K. ROBERT DELANEY
Yount III, to help set the future direc- SERVED LESS THAN
tion of the School and qualifications for
Delaney's successor.
An interdisciplinary faculty commit­tee
also outlined a set of recommenda­A
YEAR AS
THUNDERBffiD'S
SIXTH PRESIDENT.
tions for the next president, a telling document indeed, that
stated the next president should "possess many of the follow­ing
strengths:
• Understand well basic management principles
• Communicate with Board of Directors, administration,
faculty, and students
• Make thoughtful decisions and be able to defend them
• Treat all faculty equally and fairly. Does not make separate
deals
• Is known and respected in academic, administrative, and
international business circles
• Is of a mature age (40-55)
• Understands and appreciates Thunderbird, its goals, its
philosophy
• Will retain the tripartite training: area, world business, and
languages
• Likes the Mountain West and our kind of people and is not
deprecatory of them."
THUNDERBIRD 50 / 3 / 1996
GAINING ACCREDITATION
"The main thing on my mind
was the accreditation," Voris
recalls. At the time of his
arrival, the upheaval surround­ing
Delaney had caught the
attention of the NCA, and the
organization was concerned
about the accreditation it had
so recently granted "They gave
us a year," Voris says, "in order
to demonstrate that we were on
the right track. I immediately
started looking for key fac­ulty-
people with strong acade­mic
credentials and international experience. It was especially
important in the World Business Department," he said,
"because that was the area the accreditation people were look­ing
at carefully. "
One of several people he hired during that time was Dr.
Marshall Geer, whose strong academic and international cre­dentials
made him just the kind of person Voris was seeking.
Geer readily made himself available to the North Central
Association and willingly served on their evaluation teams, and
along the way led-and still leads-Thunderbird's NCA accred­itation.
Other faculty members with strong academic creden­tials
and international business experience soon followed. And
Thunderbird got its NCA reaccreditation in 1974.
Accreditation by the American Assembly of Collegiate
School of Business (AACSB) was another matter. That would
require that either Thunderbird adopt a traditional MBA or the
AACSB itself change its long-held structured accreditation
standards. With the strength of the three-part curriculum well
established, adopting an MBA would destroy the very essence
of the school, something Voris would not consider. Instead, he
chose the latter route and began slowly to lay the groundwork
for change in the AACSB.
A long-time member of the AACSB, he continued to partici­pate
in the organization, serving two terms on its board, as well
as seven years on its international committee, three as chair­man.
He was also on the AACSB standards committee, and it
THE EN'IRANCE SIGN SHOWS
was there that he was influen­tial
in persuading the organiza­tion
to add an international
dimension to the accreditation
requirements. Change came
slowly.
The encouragement of
change in the AACSB would
later be accelerated by his suc­cessor,
and combined with
external forces, would result in
changing the AACSB stan­dards,
eventually making Thun­derbird
eligible for, and finally
getting, accreditation.
OFF mE SCHooL's NEW NAME RAISING FUNDS
FOlLOWING mE NAME A fiscal conservative working
CHANGE IN 1973. THE TElL with a conservative board, Voris
INTERFAITH CENTER IS IN THE found himself treading a fine
BACKGROUND. line between the desperate
needs of the campus and the
necessity for holding the line on spending. In spite of increasing
enrolbnent, he took the position that Thunderbird should be a
"small elite graduate school with enrolbnent of near 750 stu­dents,
" but that could only happen if revenue increased
Voris laid it on the line to the board of trustees. "The School
has a chance for greatness," he challenged, "but it cannot
achieve it if we continue to live from year to year on tuition and
fees. In plain English, ladies and gentlemen, we need your help.
I would hope that the board would turn its full attention to this
ftmd-raising drive."
The board responded somewhat better than they had in
years past, but still the school got thousands when it needed
millions. "We traveled around the world calling on companies,"
he said "Fund-raising is difficult," Voris admits and says it will
always be an issue at a specialized management school like
Thunderbird. Nevertheless, the School's contributions did
reach a million dollars for the first
time in 1982, and in 1988 topped
the $2 million mark.
ADDITIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
DURING VORIS'S TERM:
• Expanded Thunderbird programs to overseas
locations including international exchange
programs, dual degree programs, and
Thunderbird courses offered in other
countries.
• Began the Wmterim term offering unique
experimental courses and attracting major
executives as speakers.
• Changed the name to American Graduate
School of International Management.
• Sold the land across 59th Avenue to the
east for development into apartments
(Sagewood, Sun Creek, Country Gables).
• Formed the World Business Advisory Council
(now the Global Advisory Council).
• Started the Consular Ball (now the
Ambassadors' Ball) as a fund-raising activity
of the Consular Corps of Arizona to benefit
student scholarships.
• Created the International Executive of the
Year Award and black-tie dinner.
• Granted the first of several honorary degrees
to Walter Bimson of Valley National Bank
(now Bank One), one of the School's initial
financiers.
• Promoted a plan to use the School's perimeter
land for use as an international business park.
• Encouraged the Friends of Thunderbird
(created by Mrs. Voris) and its fund-raising
event, the Thunderbird Balloon Classic,
which developed into the School's largest
scholarship fund.
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 16 THUNDERBIRD SO I 3 I 1996
THE WILLIAM VORIS HALL
OF MODERN LANGUAGES
WAS NAMED BY ITS DONOR
GEORGE GETZ TO HONOR
VORIS'S SUPPORT OF THE
LANGUAGE PROGRAM.
IMPROVING FACILITIES
When he arrived in 1971,
Voris may have wondered just
what he had gotten himself
into. "I remember our crews
being out there repairing the
plumbing at midnight with
water spouting out of holes in
the pipes," Voris recalls. His
first task was to take care of
urgent repairs, while seeing
West Apartments to comple­tion.
The auditorium, dining
hall, classrooms, and dorms
were all refurbished in Voris's
first few years. "The only bond
we ever issued was for urgent
repairs," he says.
One of the most serious deci­sions
faced by the School dur­ing
Voris's time was whether to
accept a 1974 offer to move the
School to Carefree, then a
small development north of
Scottsdale. The debate cen­tered
around whether it would
be easier to raise $15 million
for new facilities in another
location or $5 million to refur­bish
old buildings on the Thun­derbird
site. "I'm certainly glad we didn't
do it," Voris reflects. "The area they pro­posed
never has developed, and the
alumni did not like the idea of moving
away from the Thunderbird Campus."
GETTING A NEW LOOK
After the decision to stay put was
made and the essential repair work was
done at the Thunderbird Campus, the
School began to get a new look. Two
new dorms on each side of Founders
Hall and the Tell Interfaith Center were
the first of several construction projects.
A large portion of the extended mall
that is now the center of the campus
bears the mark of the Voris administra­tion:
the Talley Career Services Center
in 1978 and three years later, the Snell
Learning Center in 1981.
Complete renovation of the west
hangar into the Thunderbird Activity
Center was completed the next year,
converting what Voris describes as "just
a bare hangar with a tin roof' into an
auditorium that could be used for gradu­ation,
InterAd presentations, and special
events.
Just in time for the School's 40th
anniversary in 1987, the new computer
THE JACUZZI FOUNTAIN FORMS TIlE
CENTERPIECE FOR TIlE SNELL LEARNING
CENTER BUILT IN 1981.
THE ERICKSON ALUMNI PAVIl10N AND MALL,
ALONG WITH TIlE COMPUTER CENTER AND
MODERN LANGUAGES BUILDING, CHANGED TIlE
FACE AND FOCUS OF THE CAMPUS.
services building, the new lan­guage
faculty building, and the
pavilion and mall gave the
School a whole new look. Gone
was the scorching expanse of
black asphalt in front of the
tower. In its place were wide
sidewalks and green grass­lots
of it-and a shaded pavil­ion
that has since become not
only a study spot but also the
focus of events such as Asia
Night.
Voris also knew the impor­tant
role that media attention
could play in student recruit­ment
and hiring, so he made the
rounds regularly of the national
newspapers and magazines.
Articles on the School appeared
in dozens of national media like
theNew York 'Ihnes, WallStreet
Journal, Time, Newsweek,
Business Week, and Forbes.
Thunderbird, although not yet a
household name, was getting
more and more visible, and stu­dents
kept coming.
Enrollment, which had just
begun to climb in the 1960s,
took a dramatic increase in the 1970s
spurred partly by a nationwide reces­sion.
Students who couldn't get jobs
went to graduate school. In the fall of
1973, it reached 874 students, an
increase of 200 over the previous year.
By the time of Voris's retirement, enroll­ment
had been held to near 1,000 stu­dents
for a half-dozen years.
Placing those graduates became a pri­ority,
and more visits to companies were
on the agenda of nearly every adminis­trator.
"Everyone knows that if we have
no students, there would be no school;
and we also know that if the students do
not feel they can get jobs, they will not
come here," Voris said. It was a never­ending
concern of every president.
Gradually companies became more and
more aware of the School, and place­ment
continued to rise.
At the time Voris announced his
retirement, technology was accelerating
at breakneck speed, executive educa­tion
was an exploding field, and compe­tition
for students and faculty was
intense. A construction program was off
to a good start, but there were still sig­nificant
needs. It seemed that no matter
how much the School improved, there
would always be catching up to do.
THUNDERBIRD 50 13 I 1996 17 SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
BALLOON RACE
. ' . . :: .
MAVIS VORIS WAS THE
DRIVING FORCE BEHIND
THE INTERNATIONAL
AUCTION, WHICH RAISED
MONEYFORSCHO~HWS
AT THE BALWON RACE.
[RIGHT] FIFTEEN HOT
AIR BALLOONS WERE
FEATURED IN THE FIRST
THUNDERBIRD BALLOON
RACE IN 1975.
STUDENT FOOD BOOTHS
WERE A MAJOR ATTRACTION
OF THE BALLOON RACE
WHEN IT WAS HELD ON THE
BALLOON RACE WAS MOVED
FROM THE GLENDALE
AIRPORT TO WESTWORLD IN
SCOTTSDALE,WHEREITIS
CURRENTLY HELD.
BECOMING THE VERY BEST
ROY A. HERBERGER, JR.
JULY 1,1989-
hunderbird was no longer unique and it needed a
leader who could keep the School ahead of a fast­growing
pack of imitators. Dr. Roy A Herberger, Jr.,
former dean of the Cox School of Business at
Southern Methodist University, was the right man at
the right time. A highly respected academician with superb cre­dentials,
he had created USC's
International Business Educa­tion
and Research program
and was known as a savvy
fund-raiser.
In just three years, the School's annual revenue shot up from
$15.9 million to $27.6 million, and for the first time in decades,
there was money to work with.
Herberger was determined to make Thunderbird fulfill its
potential to be a world-class competitor, but there was work to
do. The perennial facilities problems continued to pester the
institution in a period Herber­ger
describes as "building the
ship and sailing it at the same
time." One dorm (one of the
former barracks) had suffered
from the ravages of time, so
replacement was an immedi­ate
concern. The usual cos­metic
details of painting and
landscaping needed to be
taken care of as well.
It isn't possible to single out
anyone accomplishment as
Herberger's greatest and best.
In just seven years under his
leadership, Thunderbird has
made giant strides in a dozen
directions. AACSB accredita­tion
would have to be high on
the list. But so would the
improvement of technology
and facilities. The campus
looks like a picture of the suc­cess
it is.
The question was, Would he
accept the job? "I looked at the
School as if I were an outside
consultant making recommen­dations
for the future course of
the School," he says. "The first
problem I looked at was finan­cial,
and I began to see ways
that could be solved. Then I
took a good look at the faculty.
I met some people who were
enthusiastic and saw the same
future for the School that I did.
Others, however, did not. I still
wasn't sure this was what I
should do, so late in the day of
my visit to campus, I went over
to the Pub and talked to the
students. That's where I saw
the excitement I was looking
for. Those students were
bright and energetic and filled
with the same kind of vision
that I had. That's when I
decided to come to Thunder­bird."
THE TIfUNDERBIRD
Executive education has
soared to become a $7 million
operation. Some of the
world's best faculty have been
attracted to Thunderbird, and
there are very few individuals
in academic or corporate cir­In
his first few months, Herberger made four
important decisions that would spark the
resources to do many other things. Realizing
that Thunderbird was undervalued in compari­son
to other graduate schools of business, his
STUDENT BODY HAS INCREASED des that have not heard of Thunderbird. Not
IN SIZE, QUALITY, AND DIVERSITY
UNDER PRESIDENT ROY
HERBERGER (WITH GLOBE).
only have they heard of it, but there is no argu­ment
these days that Thunderbird is the very
best at what it does.
first move was to propose a three-year 50 percent tuition
increase.
Next, he pushed the enrollment goal up to allow for growth
in the student body and hired expert faculty to teach them. He
then set the wheels in motion for a capital campaign, and when
all the financial building blocks were in place, he proposed a
$10 million bond issue to finance new construction. It didn't
hurt that Trustee Dick Snell happened to be an expert in bond
strategy. Lastly, Herberger set out to put the executive educa­tion
program on a fast track by hiring M. Edgar Barrett, one of
the nation's leading experts.
THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996 19
The students are better than ever, and there's
a waiting list. GMAT scores have steadily risen. More and more
students are coming in speaking a second language but often
taking yet a third. International experience of some kind is
nearly universal.
Fund-raising under Herberger's administration has topped
the $20 million mark, including some major government grants,
a new phenomenon for Thunderbird. The School's foreign pro­grams
have doubled and now include a facility in Europe and
one in Asia "We've done some new and innovative things, and
we'll continue to be creative as we try to become even more
global."
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
ACCREDITATION OR ELSE
The AACSB's accreditation of Thunderbird on April 11, 1994
was not only a milestone for the School, but it marked a change
in higher education as a whole--a move toward greater flexibil­ity
in all of education, an acknowledgment that education must
pave the way for society, and recognition of the global nature of
business.
When Roy Herberger was hired to be president of Thunder­bird,
he was already highly respected in the AACSB, had served
on several committees, and was a popular speaker at AACSB
seminars. One of his objectives, from the day he was hired, was
to achieve AACSB accreditation. By that time it was clear that
Thunderbird would never reach its potential without it. Major
grants only went to AACSB-accredited schools. Eligibility for
published rankings was limited to AACSB-accredited schools.
Foreign governments would pay for their students to attend a
U.S. school only if the School were AACSB accredited.
Would Thunderbird have to surrender and grant an MBA to
be accredited? To avoid that possibility and the resulting
protests, Herberger worked on two fronts. One was to elevate
the academic stature and visibility of Thunderbird so no one
could argue about its quality. The other was to work within the
AACSB to broaden its standards to include a school like
Thunderbird that teaches language and international studies
along with business. As an AACSB insider, Herberger contin­ued
to be a popular figure among business school deans. He
hosted seminars for new deans, organized seminars for interna­tionalizing
curriculums, chaired the AACSB international com­mittee
and served on the AACSB board of directors.
Meanwhile, other external forces were surfacing. Many
schools were changing their mission statements and becoming
more flexible. The old standards for an MBA just didn't fit any­more-
and not just for Thunderbird. To its great credit, the
AACSB responded with its most significant change in decades.
Under the new standards, a school could be accredited based
on how well it fulfilled its mission, rather than a specific set of
courses, and Thunderbird was to be a test case. The happy end­ing
is that it was one of
the first innovative
schools to be accredited
under the new AACSB
standards.
THE VERY BEST OF
EVERYTHING
step in the right direction, but the Tower Building and "C"
Building were inadequate for the other two departments, and
meeting space was at a premium; conference facilities were
nonexistent. Plans for the faculty center, proposed in the 1980s,
were updated and put on a fast track.
By the time Herberger had been on campus three years, the
School had a new entrance, the International Studies Depart­ment
and World Business Department faculties were in new
buildings, all the administrative services were in one location in
the new World Business Administration Wing, and the new
AT&T Auditorium and flexible meeting rooms had been incor­porated
into the construction. A continuous bloom of flowers
and new landscaping softened the scene. The stage was set.
Then came the players. New faculty members came to
Thunderbird from places like Dartmouth, Harvard, American
University, USC. They also came from other countries as befits a
truly global institution-India, Australia, Germany, Algeria,
China Word quickly spread that being hired for the Thunderbird
faculty was an extraordinary achievement. It took more than
just a list of publications. Good teaching was at the top of the
list along with international experience. Keeping up-to-date in
their field was a must; business experience was essential. And a
Ph.D. was part of the job description. A faculty member who
didn't measure up had to endure the pressure of the students,
often harsher judges than the faculty review committees.
MEETING THE NEEDS OF BUSINESS
One other theme running through the Herberger administra­tion
is the necessity for Thunderbird to meet the needs of busi­ness.
That meant, for example, adding two new degrees, both
initiated by the faculty: the Master of International Health
Management degree (1991) and the Master of International
Management of Technology (1993). Both were designed to fill
voids in rapidly expanding industries.
It has also meant expanding executive education in a big
way-and providing the facilities to do it. Founders Hall was
converted into the Executive Education Center, and nearby
dorms were remodeled to
suit the client executives.
The auditorium became
two case-style classrooms,
and a new Executive
Education building will be
completed next year.
One theme that runs
through the Herberger
administration is qual­ity--
of faculty, of instruc­tion,
of facilities, of
students, of staff, of ser­vice.
The most visible evi­dence
is in the new
buildings-eight of them
if you include the two
under construction-plus
a grand entrance worthy
of a grand school.
In order to attract outstanding fac­ulty,
the offices had to exude quality.
The new language building had been a
THUNDERBffiD NOW HAS A DEFINITE LOOK OF
SUCCESS WITH EIGHT NEW BUILDINGS
CONSTRUCTED OVER THE PAST SEVEN YEARS.
Under the direction of
Dr. M. Edgar Barrett,
brought by Herberger
from SMU, new programs
for executives were added
to supplement the Thun­derbird
Management
Center's customized pro­grams.
First came the
Executive M.I.M., a tight­ened
version of the M.I.M.
Then came a series of
short seminars that put
Thunderbird in the same
market as the Harvards and Whartons
that were well established in the field.
The next step was the Thunderbird
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 20 THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996
International Consortium, a group of care­fully
selected finns that would receive cus­tomized
training for a substantial annual
fee, drawing some big names like Scott
Paper, AlliedSignal, AT&T, Kellogg, mM, and
more. A 13-week certificate program is the
most recent addition, along with a special
course in English language for foreign stu­dents
preparing for American graduate
school.
No longer just the Keyman courses, the
Thunderbird Executive Education program
is ranked among the top five in the nation,
has grown over 900 percent, and is among the country's top 20
fastest growing executive programs. Last year it brought in
more than $7 million, and more importantly, has established
relationships with some new companies that had little previous
knowledge about the School.
UTHUNDERBIRD, " A HOUSEHOLD NAME?
One complaint of Thunderbird has echoed through the
decades from the early 1950s when Schurz told the trustees,
"This school is better known outside the country that it is in its
own home town. We need to get better known locally."
Roy Herberger has tirelessly set about to change that
impression. Now considered one of the foremost leaders in the
Phoenix business community, he is on every list of movers and
shakers in the Phoenix area As head of the area's economic
development group, he has been a major force in the interna­tionalization
of the area Every civic leader, every major busi­ness,
every government agency now knows Thunderbird. They
seek out interns, they speak on campus, they provide class
projects, and they hire Thunderbird graduates.
Herberger has also made his presence felt in government cir­cles,
as he was called upon to testify on NAFTA during the cri­sis
stages of its passage. It is no accident that former Secretary
THUNDERBIRD 50 13 I 1996 21
TO BECOME A $7 MILLION OPERATION,
BRINGING IN EXECUTIVES FROM
MAJOR MULTINATIONAL
CORPORATIONS.
AIL STUDENTS ARE NOW REQUIRED
TO HAVE ACCESS TO A PERSONAL
COMPUTER, THUNDERBIRD NOW HAS
A WEB PAGE, AND MANY ALUMNI KEEP
IN TOUCH ELECTRONICALLY.
of State Lawrence Eagleburger, former governor of the Federal
Reserve Martha Seger, and former U.S. Vice President Dan
Quayle are all currently on the roster of Thunderbird visiting
faculty. Wmterim on Wall Street and Winterim in Washington
are well established programs that attract major players as
speakers in both locations. Government grants of more than $4
million attest to the School's success.
The media, too, have taken notice of Thunderbird. Herberger
has met with editors across the U.S. and in many countries.
Educational publications such as the MBA Newsletter look to
him for comment on the state of international education.
With AACSB accreditation came eligibility for the media
rankings, and Thunderbird took its rightful place as the number
one graduate school of international management in the March
18, 1996 issue of u.s. News & World Report. Business Week
now places Thunderbird in its top 40 graduate schools of busi­ness,
and magazines like Fortune and Forbes turn to Thunder­bird
faculty for their expertise.
A WORLD-CLASS INSTITUTION
When Herberger speaks on the subject of international edu­cation
to other deans, uthey are struck by the fact that we
invest about $50 million a year in just one thing-international
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
management," Herberger says. "We've done it. We're there.
They are just not able to compete on our level with the sheer
mass of this institution moving in one focused direction."
"The single greatest advantage we have is our alumni,"
Herberger says. "No other school can build a program fast
enough to have the kind of worldwide
alurrmi body we have. No one can touch us
on that score. Now our challenge is to use
technology in terms of making that struc­ture
work to our mutual advantage. "
A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Herberger gives considerable credit for Thunderbird's suc­cess
to the active participation of a very strong board of
trustees. "I don't know of a single school in the world that has
the caliber of board we do," he says, referring to both the types
of executives as well as their commitment to the School.
"There's a reason they came on board," he
adds. "They want to be part of a world-class
institution that has this singular mission
and is capable of carrying it out. " •
-Nelda Crowell
hen Roy Herberger talks about the future of Thunderbird, he gets anxious, his eyes light up, and he talks
fast. He knows that remaining a world-class competitor in the year 2000 will be much different from becoming a world­class
competitor when he came to Thunderbird in 1989. A visionary, Herberger sees the world changing rapidly and he
knows that the School will have to do some major restructuring to meet the demands that the technology-centered infor­mation-
hungry 21st century will create.
Looking back at moments of opportunity the School has seen in its 50 years, Herberger wonders, "Will people look
back at this time in the School's history and say that we seized the moment? We have tremendous opportunities today, but
the world is redefining the marketplace at a rate that will increase the pressure on us.
"We have to have multiple delivery systems for every single thing we do, from the catalog to alumni programs to our
M.I.M. courses. We have a lot to offer here, and we need to find new ways to package that information for business mar­kets,
for our M.I.M. students, for government clientele. And we have to have multiple venues around the world. " He looks
to the alumni as a key element in this new world, and he is constantly seeking ways for
Thunderbird to keep them close to the School. "WILL PEOPLE
LOOK BACK AT
Herberger sees a whole division of the School developing new products that will use the
School's knowledge and expertise for a variety of audiences in a variety of forms-multime­dia
CDs, satellite-broadcast programs, Internet programming, backed by a host of technology
that is not even developed yet. For many people at Thunderbird, he admits, it will be a TIllS TIME IN THE
stretch, and there will be a learning curve-very much the same "building the ship and sailing SCHOOL'S
it" idea that he experienced with the facilities early in his administration. Only now the "ship" HISTORY AND SAY
is technology and the building process is an intellectual and creative one.
Executive education at Thunderbird will continue to be critical to the School's future, he THAT WE SEIZED
believes. The world's professions are changing so fast that a university education will never THE MOMENT?"
be sufficient preparation for the business that must be done. If educational institutions don't
provide that knowledge, he believes industry will, and is already doing it in many cases.
Herberger sees the new competition as being organizations like Motorola and the University of Phoenix.
One additional driving force will be the financial one, he believes. "We have to look at the pricing aspect of our prod­ucts,"
he says, speaking like the marketer that he is. "We simply can't continue to raise tuition every year. We have to find
new, more effective ways to deliver our courses. I see the day coming when we will have to commit to significant
increases in the value of our education while lowering its costs to the market.
"In spite of all we have accomplished," he says, "I think of Thunderbird as just beginning. I feel vulnerable and excited
at the same time," he says, as he describes what must become Thunderbird's re-birth to prepare for its next half-century.
As it celebrates its 50th anniversary, today's Thunderbird is once again a Phoenix bird-ready to rise from the ashes of the
20th century into a new world. -Nelda CroweU •
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 22 THUNDERBIRD 50 13/ 1996
THE FUTURE
BEGINS NOW
The history of technology at
Thunderbird is brief-but
the future is BIG
W thin days of taking ove, as
interim Chief Information Officer this past
June, Bill Gillis mapped out a rather
ambitious schedule for Thunderbird. His
goal: complete two years of information
technology development in less than six
months, everything from networking the
dorms and accelerating development of
Thunderbird's Internet site and distance
learning facilities, to developing the
School's flrst electronic courseware on
CD-ROM.
Sound aggressive? Not for Gillis. A
member of Thunderbird's Board of
Trustees, Gillis honed his "just do it"
approach as president of information
technology subsidiaries at Charles
Schwab, Motorola, and US WEST. Not·
surprisingly, his energetic approach is in
perfect sync with Thunderbird's new tech­nology
strategy: transform the way the
world's most influential international busi-ness
school delivers its product to stu­dents,
alumni, and corporations. "Five
years ago we were admittedly behind the
technology power curve," says President
Roy Herberger. "Thunderbird's drive
now is to stay as close to the front of the
technology wave as we can."
THE HISTORY
For many alumni who graduated before
1994, the idea that Thunderbird could be
at the front of the technology wave might
seem unlikely. True, technology has
always been an important part of the
School. The language lab built in 1959 was
considered one of the most advanced
facilities in the country at the time, and
the School's first advanced computer lab
for students was built in 1987 with the
help of trustee David Lincoln and his
wife Joan. FORAD, a computer simulation
game that teaches students how to man-age
the treasury function of a multina­tional
corporation, has been a part of the
classroom since the '80s. Professors have
employed computers as teaching tools in
Thunderbird's modem lecture halls since
1990. Even InterAd-which used to rely
on flipcharts and slideshows for presenta­tions-
has become a high-tech multime­dia
production run by computer.
But it wasn't until 1994, when the School
opened the Merle A Hinrichs International
Business Information Centre (!BIC), that
Thunderbird caught up with the technol­ogy
curve. Built in large part with the finan­cial
assistance of Merle Hinrichs '65,
Chairman of The Asian Sources Media
Group in Hong Kong, the IBIC is a testa­ment
to state-of-the-art research technol­ogy.
Its online library catalog can be
accessed from dorm rooms, professors'
offices, even offsite through the Internet.
Instead of wading through thick volumes
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 24 THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996
of industry statis­tics,
students now
have access to
more than 40 elec­tronic
databases, as
well as video lan­guage
stations and
multimedia com­puters
equipped
with CD-ROMs.
This technologi­cal
growth isn't
just a case of keep­ing
up with the
Jones' either. The
School is embracing technology both in
and out of the classroom for a purpose: to
create better global managers. According
to President Herberger, a global manager
who is truly information literate must
employ technology as a critical backdrop
to the way business succeeds. "r used to
tell people 'Our students will be com­puter
literate,'" says Herberger. "Now I
tell them, 'I want our students to under­stand
how to use information in a strate­gic
business sense. '"
ELECTRONIC LINKS
If the mlc represents the School's tech­nology
commitment to its students, the
recently upgraded computer infrastruc­ture
represents Thunderbird's commit­ment
to faculty, staff and especially
alumni. Professors, administration and
students communicate daily via a cam­puswide
E-mail system compatible with
the Internet. Many professors' offices are
now equipped with Pentium computers,
CD-ROMs, and the latest software and
web browsers.
The School has also invested in tech­nology
that has created better communi­cation
links to the global T'bird
network-links not only between the
School and alumni, but also among
alumni. Three years ago, Thunderbird
updated its alumni database, making it
easier for alumni to keep in contact with
other T'birds in the network, and for the
School to better tailor its services to
alumni. Also, this December Thunderbird
will publish its alumni directory on CD­ROM
for the first time.
Perhaps the most popular technology
initiative for alumni, however, is the Thun­derbird
Forum located on CompuServe.
Introduced in 1994, the Forum is a private
online network exclusive to Thunderbird
(it also has the historical distinction of
being the first online alumni network
developed by CompuServe). Today the
"virtual" T'bird network connects over
2,500 alumni in 50 countries, enabling
them to communicate instantly regardless
of geography or time zones. "The thunder­bird
Forum is an important milestone in
Thunderbird's strategy is to
transform the way the world's
most influential international
business school delivers its
product to students, alumni,
and corporations.
the School's history," says Nelda
Crowell, Assistant Vice President
for Communication and project
head. "It allows us to offer a connec­tion
to all classes, from 1947 to the
most recent." The Thunderbird
Forum also has a valuable practical
side: alumni use it to exchange busi­ness
information and network for
jobs.
MULTIMEDIA AND
T'BIRD WEB SITE
As impressive as all this techno­logical
growth sounds, the real
story is that it's only the start of a
well-planned effort. According to
Gillis, the School has been aggres­sively
developing both short- and
long-term strategies since 1993 with
the help of experts like John
Berndt of Lucent Technologies
THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996 25 SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
(fonnerly AT&T) and Tommy George of
Motorola Semiconductor, who sit on
Thunderbird's advisory boards (see side­bar).
"What we are seeing now is just the
tip of the iceberg," notes Gillis. "Our goal
is that not one of our competitors will be
able to boast better application of tech­nology
than Thunderbird."
One dynamic example of how Thunder­bird
plans to capitalize on technology is
the new Barton Kyle Yount Centre, open­ing
in October of 1996. The building many
alumni remember as the "library" is being
remodeled into a high-tech communica­tions
center, complete with multimedia
classrooms and video production studios.
Among other things, the Centre will allow
Thunderbird to develop electronic course­ware
that can be distributed around the
world via CD-ROM, video, and satellite.
Thunderbird's first CD-ROM project, a
course on global negotiation and arbitra­tion
being developed by Professors Bill
King and Karen Walch, will be available
next year.
A second example of how Thunderbird
is applying technology to the way it deliv­ers
products is the new Thunderbird web
site (http://www.t-bird.edu). In addition to
providing current infonnation about the
School and its programs, the site is helping
the School market itself. For example, cor­porate
visitors to the web site are encour­aged
to set up internships with the School
as well as to hire students. Prospective
students can use the site to contact the
School electronically for admissions infor­mation-
and even see a preview of the
dorm rooms. According to Judy John­son,
associate vice president for admis­sions
and recruiting, already ten percent
of Thunderbird's admissions inquiries
arrive via the Internet.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS?
What of the future? Gillis, for one, is
shooting for the moon. "I see the Thunder­bird
educational 'product' available
around the world within
the next three years, either
via satellite or online. I
also envision creating
'interactive' educational
products that are intelli­gent,
such as a CD-ROM
that can reach out to the
Internet periodically to
gather updated informa­tion
from the School."
Gillis also sees major
changes in the way stu-dents
will seek employment. "I see us
offering students the technology to con­duct
interviews directly from the Yount
Centre to any major employer's office
worldwide, saving time and money for
both the students and the corporate
recruiters."
leadership in education is any indicator of
its technological future, one thing is for
certain-the competition better keep an
eye out. -Thomas McMillan .
Technological transformation, of
course, never comes easily. But
Thunderbird is definitely off and run­ning,
very fast and very aggressively.
And if the School's 50 years of global
' lima '''',­-
­­~
­'--"
'- ... ..... Bllpwt" '­,~
FllTPHE SrCCESS
President Roy Herberger
says new technology is
key to the School's future
Thunderbird: How is Thunderbird using
technology to move forward?
Herberger: Investing in fancy hardware is
not the driving force here, content is. Our
goal is to use all these emerging technolo­gies
to better harness the valuable infor­mation
Thunderbird possesses, and to
deliver that infonnation in dynamic, innov­ative
ways. The reality is that technology
allows us to create better international
managers and deliver new educational
products to our alumni.
Thunderbird: What was your most
important step so far?
Herberger: Bringing in smart people to
our advisory boards who were corporate
leaders in infonnation management, pro­curement
and distribution. Imagine bav­ing
people at your side like Bill
Grumbles, Chairman of Turner Inter­national;
John Berndt, President of
Multimedia Ventures & Technologies at
Lucent Technologies; Tommy George,
President and General Manager of
Motorola Semiconductor's product sec­tor;
Merle Hinrichs, Chairman of The
Asian Sources Media Group; and Cyrus
Freidheim Jr., Vice Chairman of Booz
....- H OWEVER YOU SAY IT,,.. .......
duJel .. ~_ic."*
Allen & Hamilton. These leaders and their
companies showed us the true power and
future of a global technology network.
Thunderbird: Can you give an example of
how technology will affect the relation­ship
between alumni and the School?
Herberger: First, we are hoping to con­vince
alumni that graduation is an extinct
tenn. I would like to see our alumni con­sider
the completion of their graduate
studies at Thunderbird just one stage of a
career life-cycle of events. In other words,
I see a future where an alumnus never
leaves the concept of his or her institution
of higher learning. Technology will allow
us to continuously serve the needs of our
alumni, whether that need is career assis­tance,
database access, or a window into
networking with other alumni.
Second, when we say we are in "contact"
with an alumnus, we have to mean inter­active.
Think about what it means if our
alumni, faculty and students possess the
means to drop queries into an infonnation
web that could generate instant, valuable
feedback. It means that you could tap into
the power of the entire Thunderbird net­work,
anytime and anywhere.
Thunderbird: Is technology changing the
face of education?
Herberger: Education has traditionally
been one of the most unchanged indus­tries.
You could almost count on the rules
of doing business. Now, with technology,
the barriers to entry are being dropped.
Our markets are being reshaped, the way
we deliver our product is shifting, our cus­tomer
base is changing. Yes, the education
industry is changing dramatically, and
whoever stands still will be run over. That
won't be us.
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 26 THUNDERBIRD 50 13 I 1996
CRACKING
MARKETS TH E
INTERAo WAY
Thunderbird:s most
famous advertising and
marketing course has a
rich history of success
A lmost 20 years ago Jooeph
Handly '77 and his fellow InterAd team
spent many a long night developing a mar­keting
strategy for introducing L'eggs in
the United Kingdom. Unfortunately his
group lost in the final judging to a team
that helped introduce one of America's
most popular toys into Mexico-the
Frisbee. Despite not winning InterAd that
year, Handly says he gained something
even more valuable than first place: just
taking the InterAd course gave him an
edge into the advertising industry.
"InterAd was the big thing on my lips
when I interviewed," recalls Handly. "It
was just an invaluable experience. Inter­Ad
was like working for a real-life adver­tising
agency."
Whether the year
is 1977 or 1996, Inter­Ad
is-and has al­ways
been-one of
the most sought after
courses at Thun­derbird.
The work­shop
regularly draws
Fortune 500 clients
to campus for advice
on penetrating foreign markets from Costa
Rica to Korea Students' end-of-term mar­keting
presentations typically draw an
audience of over 200 with sophisticated
marketing plans and computer presenta­tions.
InterAd's inception in 1958, however,
was about as innocuous as its name:
Advertising Theory and Practice.
Students used to spend hours in the
library researching the companies and the
markets they hoped to penetrate. Early
InterAd teams had to attract their own
sponsors. Final presentations usually con­sisted
of typed reports, poster boards, and
slide shows.
But five professors and four decades
later, the course now
called Advanced Inter­national
Marketing
and Advertising Work­shop,
has emerged as
one of the premiere
capstone courses at
Thunderbird-and one
of the least theoretical.
The class was founded
and taught by promi-nent
New York ad man Edwin Coleman.
He was followed by an impressive list of
advertising veterans: Norton Sobo, Paul
Schlesinger (the father of the Mr. Clean
commercial), Sumner Wyman, and, for
the past five years, Frank Callahan (who
helped write the famous "Oh I wish I were
an Oscar Meyer wiener.. ." song).
GREAT REPUTATION. Today's students
are researching the companies-and the
markets-firsthand. The fee paid by com­panies
who want to participate in InterAd
now rivals the Thunderbird tuition. It also
includes a travel allowance for the student
team to send several members to the tar­get
market to conduct firsthand consumer
research.
A list of recent clients includes many of
today's household brand names: Kellogg's,
Kodak, Hershey, the Ford Motor Co. This
past spring, InterAd teams created market­ing
plans for Coca-Cola to penetrate the
emerging markets in Malaysia and
Vietnam.
One reason InterAd has consistently
been able to draw name-brand companies
for nearly four decades is the quality of the
students' final work. Companies may take
60 to 80 percent of students' recommenda­tions.
Some take the students as well.
What about the future of InterAd? Will
it, like the products and companies it mar­kets,
continue to build market share
worldwide? "InterAd has a terrific reputa­tion
among ad agencies," says Martin
Susz '79, former senior vice president at
J. Walter Thompson and now head of
worldwide advertising at IBM. "It has
become a global brand name in itself."
Susz should know-his company used
InterAd in 1986 to market computers in
China ---,jennifer Barrett •
Til E\ & N O\\'
[ABOVE)
THE OLD
AlRCRAFI'
TOWER
(SHOWN HERE
IN 1958) HAS
ALWAYS BEEN
A CAMPUS
LANDMARK.
[RIGHT)
NOW
REMODELED
INTO A
STUDENT
CENTER AND
SURROUNDED
BY GRASS AND
FLOWERS, THE
1996 VERSION
REMAINS THE
CENTER OF
CAMPUS LIFE.
[LEFr)
THE ALUMNI
PAVllJON BUILT
IN 1987 IS
SHOWN,WOK­ING
SOUTH FROM
THE TOWER,
WITH THE
WORLD
BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION
BUILDING BUILT
IN 1992 IN THE
BACKGROUND.
[BELOW)
THE OPEN MALL
AREA PRIOR
TO 1987.
[BELOW]
BUILDINGS TIIAT
ONCE SERVED
AS ARMY
BARRACKS
HAVE BEEN
TOTALLY
REMODELED
FOR STUDENT
UVING.
[RIGHT]
OTHERS WERE
REPLACED
DURING THE
1990S WITH
MODERN
TWO-STORY
RESIDENCE
HALLS.
[ABOVE]
IN THE SCHOOr:S
EARLY YEARS,
FOUNDERS HALL
WAS THE
ENTRANCE TO
THE AMERICAN
INSTITUTE FOR
FOREIGN TRADE.
[LEFT]
THE NEW
ENTRANCE,
WHICH OPENED
IN 1992 NEAR
THE SOUTH
HANGAR,
FEATURES
THE WORD
"WELCOME"
IN ALL TEN
LANGUAGES
TAUGHT AT
THE SCHOOL.
FACrLTY
More than anything else,
we remember the faculty
and administrators who
guided us at Thunderbird.
Their patience gave us
confidence; their
determination kept us going;
their lessons made us succeed.
3. Fra.ll.Ci4aJ (jaolf.a­Spanish
for the real world
4. 'Ruh~MutMM
a never-ending smile
5. JiHt-Milk
working us hard and making us like it
6. Ta.eiw KiHt­the
Korean scholar
1. Frait.k Tu.tczbw
fun with finance
2. Rbbert (ju1ick
7. F~Ba.bar~
multinational mentor
8. cIr.r~ Britt
the joy of German
9. BiltK~
each student a
special person
13.joMzeriIJ
marketing guru with a Brazilian touch
14. BobMor~
understanding without judgment
10. Bert v~PJUi
JOM Mai:Ir.U
honors for marketing and finance
11. Cb~ Fleek Em..
one of our own
12. The" TPJtCUf
a winning team
1. BryfUf/
H~fte,
demanding
our very best
2 BerJer Eric/aolt/
Mr. Thunderbird
3. }olm Art/utr
a T'bird
Renaissance man
4. Di.c,k MaJumey
a consistent favorite
s. glelut,. F0ltj
scholar, teacher, friend
6. Dolt/ScIuH.UJt­statistics
made easy
7·}°ttlf~
D~
everything with style
8. Eka,. whiJ:e"
French with a flair
!J.jbYj~ V~b
the Spanish gentleman
10. jbM CbItidiJt,
viewing the world
at large
11.joMKeiiy
earning our admiration
12. paid jOluub~
inspiring
entrepreneurship
13. LtMseJf.iwy~de,
NOYbW
zest for life;
love for students
14. Andrew-cIuutj
scholar in 3 languages
l unde<bITd" fi"t
graduating class had
great timing.
With the end of the
war, scores of American
companies were eager
to expand into the
lucrative Latin Ameri­can
market. And in 1947
The American Institute
of Foreign Trade was
the only school in the
country specializing in
Latin American busi­ness,
culture and lan­guage.
is Eve
Roger Nagarkar '84,
director of new projects
development, develops
and manages Career
Services programs that
need technology-based
solutions.
more encouraging: the
average starting salary
in 1984 had doubled
from a decade earlier to
nearly $30,000.
In fact, according to
an Associated Press
story that year, there
was such an acute
shortage of graduates
specializing in interna­tional
business that
more than half the
While the job market has always fluctuated,
T'birds have consistently found success
Despite these market
fluctuations, T'birds
have consistently found
success in their career
choices. In a February
1984 Forbes article,
James Hillestad, then
head of creative ser­vices
for longtime
recruiter Chemical
Bank, reported that
Thunderbird graduates
Thunderbird class had
been hired before they finished their
courses (see sidebar). Nonetheless, that
still left the other half of the class. Jack
Rokahr '47 for one recalls hours spent in
the library laboriously copying by hand
the names and addresses of companies he
might work for upon graduation. He typed
and sent off over 70 letters, from which he
eventually got two great job offers.
flUCTUATIONS. While times have
changed since Rokahr's day, the truth is
graduates will always find themselves at
the mercy of the job market yo-yo.
For example, all through the 1950s and
1960s and into the 1970s, placement rates
of 80 or 90 percent were common. Then a
recession in the mid-70s hit college place­ment
hard from two directions. Bachelor's
degree graduates who couldn't find jobs
went to graduate school instead (enroll­ment
jumped at Thunderbird as it did at
in their career choices.
business schools throughout the country).
But as the recession lingered, there were
even more graduates competing in a slim­mer
job market.
In 1982, the School held a record 5,504
job interviews on campus. But the follow­ing
year, Carol Hazelett, former director
of Career Services, sent a staff memo out
lamenting the loss of recruiters from the
construction equipment, farm implement
and petroleum industries-three of the
top six industries T'birds were then enter­ing.
That same year a downturn in the
economy forced the cancellation of 29
regular corporate visits, plus the total
number of interviews was about 3,500-
down nearly a third from the year before.
Nonetheless, the next year Career Ser­vices
reported over 70 percent of Thunder­birds
had accepted a position of their
choice within 60 days of graduation. Even
recruited for their mar­keting
group had gone
"right to the top of their class."
That may be one reason why, a decade
later, companies such as AT&T and
Schering-Plough consider Thunderbird
Citibank In Thunderbird's
Corner for 50 Years
When the American Institute of Foreign
Trade graduated its first dass in 1947, over
half a dozen students went to The National
City Bank of New York--fllaking it one of the
School's top recruiters that year.
Over the past 50 years the names have
changed, but the relationship between Thun­derbird
and Citibank has not. The company
hired 16 graduates from the 1995-96 dass and
four interns this summer. In fact. even after 50
years Citibank is still the School's top recruiter.
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 34 THUNDERBIRD 50 / 3 / 1996
graduates good material for their "fast
track" executive programs, according to
David Martin, current director of em­ployer
relations.
Last year, graduates accepted many
high-level positions such as senior vice
president, vice president of operations,
Services Center. "At first, we were one of
the only institutions providing interna­tional
expertise. Now we are competing
with other business schools and other
experienced business people."
As a result, today's T'birds are trained
not only in international business, but in
and international sales
manager. In the past
two decades the aver­age
starting salary has
nearly tripled, to about
$50,300 with a range up
to $144,000.
The number of
recruiters has grown to
271 organizations, every­thing
from Cargill to
Coca-Cola. Yet, the list
still includes many
names that have re­cruited
since Thunder­bird
first opened­companies
like Good­how
to get the job they
want. As part of the new
curriculum, students
must complete a half­semester
workshop in
career management. In
addition, they may sub­mit
information for a
Thunderbird computer
database used by com­panies
to target specific
recruits. Students also
have access to on-line
postings and notebooks
and bulletin boards full
of job opportunities.
The number of
recruiters has grown
to 271 organizations
in 1995-96, yet the list
still includes
companies that
have recruited since
Thunderbird first
opened-names like
Goodyear, Citibank,
and Bank of America.
Today's T'birds, of
course, also have the time-honored advan­tage
of the "Thunderbird Mystique," a net­work
of over 28,000
year, Citibank, and Bank of America
Though many T'birds still go to work in
Latin America, many now flnd work in
emerging markets such as Eastern
Europe and Asia
COMPETITION
Growth isn't necessarily all good news,
however. As thejob market grows, so does
the competition. "The whole market place
for Thunderbird graduates has changed,"
says Roger Nagarkar '84, director of
new projects development for the Career
According to David Roberts '73, vice presi­dent
of The Global Financial Institutions
Group for Citibank N.A., Thunderbird is also
one of Citibank's top recruiting destinations,
sharing the spotlight with prestigious MBA
schools such as New York University's Stern
School and the University of Pennsylvania's
Wharton School. As Roberts points out.
however, Thunderbird is the only school on
Citibank's list that focuses exclusively on
global education.
That key factor, among others, may explain
alumni working in
over 9,000 companies
and organizations in
at least 130 countries
throughout the world.
As Keith Rowe '49
(now deceased) ob­served
some 45 years
ago: " ... After talking
This newspaper
article from 1947
paints a colorful
picture of what
getting a job was
like for the first
graduating class.
to a lot of boys from school I realize that
the opportunities are limitless and
no matter how hard jobs are to
get, if one has patience and looks
around he can find what he wants.
[Thunderbird) really opens a lot of
doors when one is looking for a
job," •
-Jennifer Barrett
David Roberts '73 of Citibank teaches stu­dents
during Winterim on Wall Street 1996.
why rbirds are credited with being a big part
of Citibank's overseas expansions in the 19505
and 19605. As far back as 1963, Citibank
counted 89 T'birds among its employees,
including Bob Feagles '51 and Clarence
Wasson '49. Today, it employs an estimated
150 rbirds throughout the world. "Thunder­bird
has played a very big part in our history, H
says Roberts, who himself has been with
Citibank for over 20 years.
The bank also provides year-round support
to the School in a variety of areas, from
I 232 Veterans
Out to Snare
World Trade
PHOENIX, Ariz.- {II'} -The
first 232 graduates of the
American Institute of Foreign
Trade, virtually an all·veteran
school, are on their way south.
Behind them is eight and one­Ivllf
months of study in the cus·
toms, culture, languages, busi·
11('55 techniques and traditions
or the Americas. So intensive
was the study that many with·,
nut previous knowlcd~e, became
fluE'nt in Spanish or Portu- ,
guese. I
The in stitute was establiShec111
.11 year allo at Thunderbird
field, wartime training ('('nter,
for airmen, under the presidency I
nf Lt. Gen. Barton A. Yount, l
USA (Ret.), wartime commander
of the AAF training command.
So acute was the shortage of
lIlIch lIlen that half the graduates
were hired before they fini shed I
their courses. Employers include
l
'
slIch firms as Goodyear Na­tional
City Bank of New York,
Texas Co., United I' r uil, Stand· ;
ard Oil oC New Jersey, Singer i
Sewing Machine, Sperry Corp., '1'
Union Carbon and Carbide,
Bank of America and U. S. gov­~
n\ll1ent agencies.
Typical graduat{'s are Joe I
Gra( with a geology degree. who i
became interested ill South
America as a fir st li eu tenant
during the war and is now
headed sou th as a mining engi­neer;
and Emily Adacusky, for.
nler army nurse, who will
a company hospital ..-.. - ....
cia . There were
men in the fir
cosponsoring the European Reunion in
Budapest this year to funding a marketing
class study on launching Citibank's
AAdvantage card in Brazil.
As Citibank continues to increase opera­tions
around the globe, Roberts says he is
happy to see rbird students still enthusiastic
to be a part of that expansion. Just last
September, during Corporate Career Activity
Week, Roberts made the Citibank presenta­tion
personally- to an audience of more
than 250 eager Thunderbird students.
THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996 35 SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
TOTAL IMMERSION
I n 1980, officials from Cluna', number
one business school toured some of
America's premier institutions hoping to
set up the first Sino-American business
school program. When the administrators
stopped in at Thunderbird, they had yet to
visit the bastions of the Ivy League. But by
the time they left the School, one Thun­derbird
official believes they had already
made their choice-The American Gradu­ate
School of International Management.
"We were such a different kind of
school compared to the mainstream MBA
schools," explains Associate Dean of
Admissions Stephen Beaver, coordinator
of foreign programs in the 1970s and 80s.
Chinese administrators were caught by
surprise, for example, when Thunderbird's
student body president, an American
raised in Hawaii, spoke to them in fluent
Mandarin Chinese. After spending most of
their tour in boardrooms, they were also
eager to "push their sleeves up" and help
Overseas programs and exchanges have provided
Thunderbird students a unique opportunity for
linguistic and cultural immersion
Beaver (who was born in China) cook a
traditional Chinese dinner in his kitchen.
There were few foreigners even in
China when Thunderbird sent its first
group of students to Beijing's University
of International Business and Economics
the following summer. Beaver calis the
initial program "a real hardship trip."
T'birds were housed in decaying rem­nants
of 1950s Russian imperialism and
bused the 45 minutes to campus each day.
Produce was often delivered by cart and
dumped in piles on street corners.
Permits had to be obtained for each visit
outside of Beijing- and that added up
quickly as the group traveled over 5,000
miles throughout China
Today, Thunderbird's 100week summer
program in China allows students to
attend both the University of International
Business and Economics in Beijing and
the Shanghai University of Finance and
Economics. Foreign students no longer
stand out, or apart. They live on campus in
Western-style comfort and travel wherever
they please. Of all the countries where
Thunderbird has established programs
over the last two decades, Beaver says
China has changed the most drastically.
MEXICO. But China was not the School's
flrst program abroad. Thunderbird had
been sending students to Guadalajara,
Mexico, for almost 10 years before the
China program was established That the
School's first studies abroad program was
in Mexico won't surprise most T'bird
alumni. As Beaver points out, Spanish has
always been the School's most popular
language course. Almost 25 years after the
first summer program in Guadalajara was
launched, it continues to draw the most
applications of any of the School's 20 pro­grams
throughout the world. This summer,
79 students attended the 100week session.
Other programs have not attracted
quite so many students, but Professor
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 36 THUNDERBIRD 50 I 3 I 1996
Llewellyn Howell, current director of
overseas programs, says that it is impor­tant
Thunderbird maintain a global scope.
The School is pretty close to achieving
that objective today with programs in
Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and
the Middle East.
Thunderbird already offers two year­round
programs at its campuses in
Archamps, France (near Geneva), and
Tokyo, Japan. The School's European pro­gram
began in the late 1970s, but moved
from Yugoslavia to England to Belgium,
and three different sites in France, before
the Archamps campus was established
near the Swiss-Franco border. The Japan­ese
program moved just
once, from the Japan­ese
Institute for Inter­national
Studies and
Training in F't\jinomiya.
Thunderbird opened its
own center in Tokyo in
1991.
Thunderbird also has
summer programs in
Moscow and Austria.
"All of these are our fac­ulty,
our curriculum, our
schedules," says How­ell,
"and that makes a
big difference."
Of all overseas programs,
those run by Thunderbird fac­ulty
have always drawn the
most student interest. But that
has not prevented the School
from having exchange pro­grams
with institutions all
over the globe, from Cairo to
Chinese administrators were caught
by surprise when Thunderbird's
student body president, an
American raised in Hawaii, spoke
to them in fluent Mandarin Chinese.
Costa Rica The exchanges may be limited
by number restrictions and curriculum or
scheduling conflicts, but Howell says they
continue to attract students as a unique
opportunity for total linguistic and cultural
inunersion.
In Spain, one of Thunderbird's oldest
exchange programs is with the Escuela
Superior de Adminis­tracion
y Direccion de
Empresas (ESADE),
located in Barcelona.
The two schools have
maintained a transat­lantic
dual-degree pro­gram
for over 20 years
now. More recently
Thunderbird has estab­lished
a semester ex­change
program with
the Instituto Universi­tario
de Administracion
y Direccion de Empre­sas
in Madrid.
WINTERIM. Other new off-campus pro­grams
offer students a change of scenery
without leaving the States. The School has
established three-week Winterim sympo­siums
on Wall Street and in Washington
D.C.-the latter drawing nearly 50 T'birds
in 1996. More than two dozen students this
year took advantage of another new
Winterim program in Chile and Peru,
where they met both company presidents
and the country's President, Alberto
F't\jimori.
Of course the School has an eye on
other emerging markets as well-from
India to the Pacific Rim. Overseas director
Howell likens Thunderbird's strategy to
that of a multinational corporation. "We're
trying to pay attention to where business is
going," explains Howell. "We want to have
a foot in each region where there are
opportunities for our graduates. That's
what we teach, and we should practice
what we preach." •
-Jennifer Barrett
37 SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
l\lEDI.\
One Heck of a Start
Thunderbird's No.1 ranking by u.s .. News in 1996 generated much publicity
for the School-but not quite as much as its controversial opening in 1946
T. dat. was JWle 23, 1948.
THUNDERBffiD FIELD IN ARIZONA
BECOMES LATIN-AMERICA SCHOOL
declared the headline in The New York
Herald Tribune, in one of the earliest
newspaper articles about Thunderbird:
Phoenix, Ariz., June 22-Thunderbird
Field, "show-place" of the Army's
wartime flying schools, was formerly
turned over to the American Institute for
Foreign Trade last Thursday for civilian
peacetime training of young men for
governmental and commercial service in
Latin American countries.
To Thunderbird founders Barton K.
Yount and Finley P. Dunne, Jr., national
media attention for a new school hoping
to attract students seemed idyllic. Who
could buy such publicity?
Just a few months later, however, the
shine of free publicity had worn off.
Thunderbird was still making headlines in
dozens of newspapers, all right-but not
the headlines it wanted.
GRANT TO "EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTION" UNDER
CONGRESSIONAL SCRUTINY
blasted the headline in The Cincinnati
Times-Star on August 17, 1946. "New
Dealers themselves blinked today at the
latest New Deal project-a school to
serve world peace under the direc-
"diplomacy" school noted a year later:
"The publicity that followed the award
.. . brought almost 3,000 letters from
would-be students."
With such an unusual introduction, it
isn't surprising that the national media
has kept its eyes on the School over the
years. In 1959 Thunderbird (then AIFI')
was featured in Look magazine; in 1965, in
Fortune; in the 70s and 80s in Newsweek,
Nation's Business, The New York Times,
Business World, even The London Times.
In fact, despite its controversial incep­tion
into mainstream media, the School
has generated nothlng but good publicity
since. Its media reputation may have been
cemented by the recent u.s. News rank­ing,
but the foundation has always been
there. James Grant, current Assistant
Vice President of Public Affairs, says he
aims to keep building on that solid foun­dation,
too. The latest strategy: establish
the school as a source, not just a subject,
for reporters.
"Today we're emphasizing the wonder­ful
base of expertise on this campus and
the media are responding well," he says.
"Journalists are increasingly looking to
Thunderbird as a news source for interna­tional
business."
School faculty are appearing as
sources, subjects, and writers. Norman
Levine, an adjunct professor and execu­tive
director of the institute for interna­tional
policy, has authored dozens of
articles carried in newspapers throughout
the country. Since World Business Associ­ate
Professor Graeme Rankine co-pub­lished
a paper on stock splits, both he and
his findings have been featured in
Business Week, Forbes, and numer­ous
newspaper articles.
In fact, high-profile newspapers
tion of a retired colonel and lieu­tenant
colonel to whom the war
assets administration turned over a
$407,000 government property at
100 percent discount," wrote one
irate reporter at the Chicago
Tribune.
"Thunderbird was offering a global slant to business education
are turning to Thunderbird as a reg­ular
source on all matters of interna­tional
business. Reporters from The
Miami Herald called the School for
recent stories on business in
Southeast Asia and South Africa.
USA Today reporters have sought
faculty sources on topics ranging
from Coca-Cola's reorganization to
GOOD PUBLICITY. Eventually, the
School and its founders were
cleared of any wrongdoing. Ironi­cally,
all the bad publicity ended up
helping Thunderbird. As a feature
article in Collier's about the new
when most B-school deans never thought it was important.
Indeed, for nearly 30 years, the school had the only intemational
business program in the United States .... Now that nearly every
executive chatters on about global-this and global-that,
Thunderbird is sitting pretty. One recent study proclaimed it the
number one intemational MBA [sic) program in the country.n
-Business Week Guide to The Best Business Schools (1995) multicultural CEOs. The L.A. Times
quoted faculty in recent stories on
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 38 THUNDER81RD SO 131 1996
expatriates and cutbacks in overseas
allowances.
T'birds themselves are also becoming
an important source of media coverage
for the School, from profiles in hometown
newspapers to front-page stories in The
Chicago Sun TImes and features in Global
Finance.
For instance, Mary Beth Robles '81
made headlines in Brazil as the first
female vice president for marketing at
Colgate-Palmolive. Mannti Cummins '92
and David Felix '92 were featured in a
Success magazine story on entrepreneurs
(the pair formed a dental services net­work
in Mexico in 1994 and anticipate
annual revenues close to $8 million within
the next couple years).
Many alumni are also generating a con­siderable
amount of p.r. for the School. In
his interview with Success, Cummins
credited Thunderbird's unique curriculum
for deepening the skills he needed to pen­etrate
the Mexican market. Robles' multi­lingual
abilities were attributed in part to
her coursework at Thunderbird. A Miami
Herald story on Maria Justo '82-who
took the helm at Eagle National Bank this
MIt is a fact. well-known to busi­nessmen
and students of foreign
relations in the United States.
that while Americans are versatile
at home. very few have ever
learned how to behave abroad.
They say and do the wrong
things. talk too much. laugh at
the wrong time. and in general
are too rigidly American. scornful
of foreign customs. Thus they
trample on the sensibilities of
their hosts, arousing resentment
and distrust which have cost
American business millions of
dollars .... [At Thunderbird) pupils
acquire the Latin American
concept of business timing-the
sociable. gracious approach
as opposed to Yankee
go-getter tactics. M
- from Collier's Magazine
October 25. 1947
In 1959 Thunderbird (then AIFT) was featured in
Look magazine; in 1965, in Fortune; in the 70s and 80s
in Newsweek, Forbes,
The New York Times,
Business World, and
The London Times.
spring at the age of 37 -mentioned Thun­derbird
as an influence to her impressive
career in banking.
With Thunderbird's 50th anniversary
this year and its number-one ranking in
Us. News, the School is primed for even
greater national and international news
coverage. But as the School's founders--­and
just about any alumnus from 1946 to
1996-might argue, making headlines is
hardly news for Thunderbird. While
Business Week recently reported that
recruiters consider Thunderbird "a leader
in global business," that's the same obser­vation
reporters at the Associated Press
made in 1946-the first year the School
opened. -Jennifer Barrett •
THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996 39 SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
Library
The Sclwol s first library was adjacent to what is now the storage hangar,
its first books gathered from second-hand stores in New York City, forming the
nucleus of a collection focused exclusively on international business.
The library was a favorite project of Barton Kyle Yount. An alumni newsletter
of 1949 reported that he took immense pride in sfwwing it to visitors.
[RIGHT] FROM 1953 UNTIL
HER RETIREMENT IN 1988,
LORA JEANNE WHEELER
DID MORE THAN JUST RUN
THE LIBRARY, SHE WAS
THE LIBRARY.
[ABOVE] THE NEW BARTON KYLE YOUNT MEMORIAL
LIBRARY WAS BUILT IN 1971, AND A PLAQUE HONORING
THE GENERAL WAS PLACED AT THE ENTRANCE.
PERIODICALS HAS LONG BEEN AN
OUTSTANDING FEATURE OF THE LIBRARY.
THUNDERBIRD 50 /3/ 1996 41
[LEFr] Nr ONE TIME, THE CARD CATALOG WAS
THE FOCAL POINT OF THE LIBRARY. NOW THE
CATALOG IS CARRIED ONLINE AND PROVIDES
ACCESS TO A MULTITUDE OF LIBRARIES.
[BELOW] IN 1994 MERLE A HINRICHS '65
GAVE MORE THAN A MlLIJON DOlLARS TO
BUILD THE NEW INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
INFORMATION CENTRE, WInCH COMBINED
ALL OF THE RESEARCH FACILIT1ES INTO ONE
BUILDING, INCLUDING THE BOOK COLLECTION,
VIDEOS, RARE BOOKS, THE DOM PEDRO IT
COLLECTION, AND THE ISRC.
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
HISTORY
THE LIBRARY
Those Very First Years
The American Institute for Foreign Trade was born in 1946, forged
out of the destruction of World War II and the promise of a new
future. To Thunderbird Field they came, young men and women
returning to a normal civilian existence, driven by the promise of
becoming global ambassadors of trade. For them, and for every
T'bird who has followed in their footsteps, it was the beginning
of an unforgettable life-long journey.
T hin¥ days '""'" returning home from World War n, Jack Rokahr found
himself standing in the middle of a desert airstrip outside Glendale, Arizona
The year was 1946, and the place was the newly created American Institute of
Foreign Trade.
"There we were, 250 some ex-GIs and a handful of WACs and navy nurses,
all trying to return to a normal civilian existence,» recalls Jack. His strongest
memory of that first year is the friendships. "We had all faced death in the war, so 1
think the Thunderbird tradition of having fun with
friends had strong roots in that first year.»
In the classroom the emphasis was strictly on Latin
America "We took Spanish and Portuguese, the won­derful
Dr. Schurz taught us area studies, and of course
there were the business courses,» recalls Jack. "I
fondly remember Dr. Schurz teaching us about the his­tory,
the culture, and the geography of Latin America,
all with the purpose of preparing us to go into this
exciting new world. »
One of the students' favorite studying spots in
those days was by the water. "We often conducted
42 THUNDERBIRD 50 /3/ 1996
.. JACK ROKAHR '47 SPENT AN
ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER IN THE
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY,
TRAVELING ALL OVER ASIA AND
SOUTH AMERICA, AND LATER
WORKED FOR THE U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.
"I WAS MARKETING SQUIBB
PENICILLlN IN KABUL,
AFGHANISTAN BACK IN 1951,
LONG BEFORE THE RUSSIANS
DECIDED TO INVADE, » HE POINTS
OUT. THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN IN
KARACHI, PAKISTAN IN 1951.
A TOUCH FOOTBALL GAME; CAMPUS
OUTDOOR CLASS
"We had allfaced
death in the war,
so I think the
Thunderbird
our Spanish class out by the pool," says Jack, "all sitting there in our
swimming trunks while the magnificent Senora Placida Smith corrected
our pronunciations."
Jack also spent a good deal of his time in the library, combing through
Moody's Industrials, developing lists of international companies he could
tradition of
having fun with
friends had
strong roots in
that first year. "
write to apply for employment after he graduated.
Outside the classroom, life at Thunderbird was a con­sequence
of being stuck in the middle of nowhere. "We
slept five to a barracks room, with one bathroom,"
recalls Jack. Very few students at that time had cars, so
they spent most of their time on the campus. On
Saturdays, they sometimes hitched a ride into Glendale
to catch the bus into the 'big city' of Phoenix. For exer­cise
they would play baseball or football, and jog on the airstrip ("I never
wanted to go beyond the airstrips because I was deathly afraid of the rat­tlesnakes,"
he adds).
What does Jack Rokahr think of Thunderbird today? "I've been back to the
old airfield a couple of times since 1947," he says. "I find what has been
accomplished there is absolutely wonderful. No question about it-what I
learned at Thunderbird was the foundation for my international career. " •
JACK ROKAHR '47 AT THE
LOS ANGELES 5<mI
ANNIVERSARY ALUMNI
RECEPTION.
THUNDERBIRD 50 13 1 1996 43 SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
19805
Graduation in the quad.
1989
Awards are a tradition at graduation.
1985
Jeane Kirkpatrick, former ambassador of
the United States to the United Nations,
spoke at graduation.
1989
A future T'bird?
Booker Robinson Warren '6B receiving the
Barton Kyle Yount award at graduation.
1985
Professor Dennis Guthery, the "king of marketing research,"
received the outstanding professor award in the World
Business Department.
1991
Vice president for student affairs Brian Bates and students.
1973
"Thunderbird Graduate School of International Manage­ment"
(sign in background) was the official name of the
School from 1968-1973. Pictured are Michael May '74, Peter
Hellwig '73, Stephen Austin '73, and Thomas Sunde '73.
1987
Pamela Barit '87, Thunderbird's 20,OOOth
student to graduate.
Jack Donnelly '60, Renee Donnelly, and Mark Donnelly '95.
1981
Getting that degree is an important moment.
1988
Daniel Yamamoto '88 and family.
1983
A student proudly displays her
country's flag at commencement.
1989
The Thunderbird diploma.
8·'iU·iii
NEW DINING
HALL
Construction of a
new Dining Hall,
underway since
May 1, is
expected to be
completed by
early 1997. The
new facility will
be located
between the
Tower and the
East Hangar.
PARIS
REUNION SET
The 1997 Euro­peanAlumni
Reunion location
is official-Paris,
France (June
12-15,1997)!
This year's alumni
chairmen include
John Cook '79,
Ed Pierce '91, and
Eric Delhaye '89.
A pre-reunion
open house in
st. Remy de
Provence is
being planned by
David Carpita '67,
owner of the
famed Mas de
Cornud Cooking
School and
Country Inn.
Mark your
calendars!
NEWS
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Thunderbird
Soars Online
Thunderbird has launched its
own World Wide Web site. The
site, http://www.t-bird. edu,
includes information about the
School and its programs. Prospec­tive
students worldwide are using
the site to request admissions
information and even see a pre­view
of the dorm rooms. Accord­ing
to Judy Johnson, associate
vice president for recruiting and
admissions, already ten percent of
Thunderbird's admissions inquir­ies
arrive via the Internet The site
also is helping some students get
jobs. Corporate visitors to thun­derbird's
web site are encouraged
to set up internships with the
School-and, of course, to hire
students.
Professor
Dale Davison
Davison Heading
World Business
Accounting professor Dr. Dale
Davison, remembered fondly by
many alumni as the person who
made them really want to study
accounting, succeeded Dr.
Robert Grosse as chairman of
the Department of World Business
this fall. Davison, who was also
academic director of the Execu­tive
Master of International
Degree Program, is known for his
classroom presence as well as his
ability to make accounting jokes
funny. From 1993 to 1996 Davison
was the project director of a
$500,000 federal CABNIS grant to
assist a consortium of U.S. busi­nesses,
including McDonnell
Douglas, to market products and
develop joint ventures with
Russian companies.
FormerCNN
Chief Speaks at
Commencement
Peter C. Vesey, president of
Peter C. Vesey & Associates and
former chief of CNN Internation- Peter C. Vesey
(r), former
chiefofCNN
International,
and Tracy
Nottingham '96,
aI, gave the commencement
address at the August 9 ceremony .
Vesey's career in local, national,
and international television news
spans more than 28 years, 16 of
them at CNN. He left CNN this winner of the
year to establish his own interna-tional
news consultancy. About Barton Kyle
200 students from 22 countries Yount Award
received their degrees at the cere- for Summer
mony, held at the Wigwam Resort. 1996
AMEXVP
EarnsEMIM
Gordon Smith, vice president of
Credit Operations for American
Express, was one of 31 graduates
this summer of Thunderbird's
Executive Masters oj Internation­al
Management Program (EMIM).
Smith, a native of Great Britain,
represented his country in the flag
ceremony along with the MIM
graduates. EMIM is a two-year
degree program offered to execu­tives
with at least ten years of
international work experience.
Classes meet on alternating week­ends,
and during three-week resi­dency
periods in Phoenix, Latin
America, Europe and Asia. (For
EMIM iriformation, contact pro­gram
director Elliott Nelson '91
at 602-978-7921.)
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 46 THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996
[above)
Katherine K.
Herberger (I)
and G. Robert
Herberger (r)
and (at right)
Richard Snell
GACmembers
advising Thun­derbird
students
last fall: (I-r)
Jim Young,
Assistant to the
Chairman, EDS;
Ted Fuller '72,
Director, Johnson
& Higgins;
Kai Hoshi,
President, Canon
Trading USA; and
John Fiasco '75,
President and
Managing
Director, South­east
Region,
Banker's Trust
Snell, Herbergers
Honored with
Degrees
Honorary doctoral degrees
were presented at this spring's
commencement to three of the
School's most influential leaders,
G. Robert Herberger, Kather­ine
K. Herberger, and Richard
Snell. Robert Herberger served
25 years as a Trustee, from 1952 to
1977 and was instrumental in the
early development of Thunderbird
into an internationally renowned
institution. Katherine Herberger,
who has been a part of Thunder­bird
for most of its 50 years, is a
founding member of the Thunder­bird
International Symposium,
which brings world-renowned
speakers to the School and sup­ports
student scholarships. Snell,
a member of the Board of Trus­tees
for 18 years and chairman
from 1989 to 1993, oversaw one of
Thunderbird's most critical peri­ods
of physical and program
expansion, particularly the highly
successful executive education
program. Snell is currently chair­man,
president, and CEO of Pinna­cle
West Capital Corporation. His
father, Frank Snell, was one of
Thunderbird's founding trustees.
Technology
Takes Off
Most alunmi remem­ber
the Barton Kyle
Yount building as the
campus library. But
this year, the building
got a rebirth-and a
new purpose. The
building will reopen
this October as the
Barton Kyle Yount Centre, a
high-tech communications facility
complete with multimedia class­rooms
and video production stu­dios.
The Centre will allow
Thunderbird to develop and dis­tribute
electronic courseware
around the world via CD-ROM,
video, and satellite. The new facil­ity
may also change the way stu­dents
seek employment. Plans are
for future students to conduct
interviews via satellite directly
from the Yount Centre, beaming
themselves to major employers
worldwide.
Storm Damages
East Hangar
The Thunderbird campus sus­tained
moderately heavy damage
in a severe storm that struck on
August 14. One of the hardest hit
buildings was the old World War
II East Hangar. One hundred mile­per-
hour winds tore off large sec­tions
of the roof, allowing rain
into the School's Post Office and
bookstore. The Global Market,
which sells craft items from
around the world to support stu­dent
scholarships, was also dam­aged.
Other destruction occurred
when sections of the roof over the
Keyman guest rooms (located in
the northwest corner of campus)
caved in after two 80-foot pine
trees fell on top of the
building. A Japanese
student, just arrived
for the fall semester,
was staying in one of
the rooms when the
trees crashed through
the roof. She was not
hurt. Also, the East
Apartments building
had nearly half of its
roof tiles blown off,
with the debris scat-tered
as far as the Department of
Modem Languages building. Even
the new dining hall under con­struction
suffered damage: Newly
installed metal work was twisted
by the strong winds.
Follow the Leader
Thunderbird has launched a
new mentor program called the
Executive Partner Program that
pairs successful business leaders
with current students. Members
of the Global Advisory Council, a
group of more than 100 corporate
executives from around the world
that advises the School on strate­gic
planning, will be matched with
current students interested in
similar career paths. The GAC
members will provide students
with career counseling as well as
insights into their particular
industry.
50 Reasons to
Celebrate
If you haven't heard by now,
Thunderbird is celebrating its
50th anniversary, including a gala
homecoming and reunion cele­bration
this November 1-3. The
School is also bringing 50th
anniversary receptions to several
cities across the country, includ­ing
Chicago on October 16, 1996,
and Houston on October 17.
West Coast receptions in San
Francisco and Los Angeles
kicked off the festivities earlier
this summer, drawing over 600
T'birds from the classes of '47 to
'96. Both the European Reunion
held June 6-9 in Budapest and
the Asian Reunion held Septem­ber
6-8 in Singapore featured
special 50th themes and events.
Future anniversary reception
sites include Miami (February 13,
1997), Washington, D.C. (March
13, 1997), and New York City.
THUNDERBIRD 50 131 1996 47 SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
At the Los
Angeles 50th
Anniversary
Reception, T'bird
friends Dennis
Blank '80 and
Maurice Saw '81
reunited after
more than 15
years
THE GOOD NEWS.
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'47-'59
Richard P. Valelly '47 is
retired with wife, Nancy
Parks, in Mt. Pleasant, SC.
Anthony T. Lodico '49 is
executive vice president of
RFQ-NET, Inc. in Carlsbad, CA. Richard
D. Swanson '52 is retired in Stockton,
CA. William Schollard Jr. '53 is direc­tor
of business administration at
Corporacion Andina de Fometo in
Caracas, Venezuela Gilbert W. Corey
'55 is owner of GWC & Associates in
Cathedral City, CA. Roy Young '55 is a
retired engineer. He and his wife, Jane,
reside in Glendale, CA. Jack Buteftsh
'56 is president at Special Events Inc. in
San Juan Capistrano, CA. Joseph A.
Hopkins '56 is an investment represen­tative
for Edward D. Jones & Co. He
lives with his wife, Ann, in Weslaco, TX.
Harry J . Laubach '56 is retired in
Kailua, Ill. Sterling S. Waggener '57 is
a partner at Waggener, Arterburn &
Standiferd in Topeka, KS. J .H. "Ham"
De thero '58 is senior vice president of
Commercial Bank of San Francisco. He
recently received a special Export
Citizen of the Year award for his extraor­dinary
volunteer work in promoting
exports almost from the start of his
career in 1958.
'60-'64
Robert Malcom '60 is managing
director at Atkinson & Co. in
Princeton, NJ. P. Dewey Black '61
works in real estate ser­vices
at Black &
Company in Newport
Beach, CA. Peter E.
Blanchard '62 is a
Associates in Scottsdale, AZ. James
B. Kent '62 is a principal at Ryan,
Hankin, Kent, Inc. in San Francisco,
CA. David B. McCaughey '62 is vice
president at Eurocal Internatio