How Private Support Makes a Difference

MARSHALL PARKE ’77

Since Thunderbird began its partnership with ASU in 2015, philanthropic investment in the School has increased by 382%. This remarkable demonstration of support has impacted the School powerfully by reenergizing many of our hallmark programs and launching new initiatives. Below is a look how fundraising makes a difference at Thunderbird.

SHARE FELLOWSHIP

Last winter, SHARE founders, Marshall Parke ’77 and his wife, Veronique, reinvested in the program with a special gift to cover all operational costs. With this support, fellow T-birds such as Jimmy Masrin ’87, Hilmi Panigoro ’85, Robert Zorich ’74, Eric Bing ’94, David Young ’91, Michael Gerrard ’91, David Mayo ’61, and SHARE alumnus Lilian Mramba ’10 committed over $1,000,000 this calendar year to the program, which will fund 14 full-ride scholarships.

T-BIRDS IN JAPAN RISE

It began with a desire to help Thunderbird recruit Japanese students. Hiroshi Hamada ’91, Mikako Inamasu ‘91, Katsunori Takahashi ‘99, and Tetsuya Abe ‘01 wanted to help – so they began to translate admissions materials to Japanese. Slow progress led to the realization that a larger presence was needed – an office in Tokyo. Mr. Hamada made a personal gift of $100,000 to establish a Japan Fund. To date, T-birds in Japan have added to that amount and activity continues. “We need Thunderbird here in Japan,” said Hamada. “Not only for a business reason, but also for their contribution to the world.”

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION PROGRAM

Thanks to the support from Ken Valvur ’88 and the Thunderbird Executive Leadership Council, Thunderbird has begun offering its 2nd Language Acquisition tutoring program during each semester. This extremely cost efficient program matches a native-speaking student (tutor) with fellow students using a structured (yet flexible) outline to help participants increase conversation communication capabilities. “Getting a start in Japanese at Thunderbird completely changed my life - I hope current students will also take the language plunge with some help from TELC!”