Archive for June, 2010

LIMA — About 300 Peruvian women with big dreams for their microenterprises crowded into a makeshift auditorium June 21, 2010, for the launch of Proyecto Salta, a three-hour business course developed at Thunderbird School of Global Management in partnership with local training company Aprenda.

“The audience was absolutely captivated,” said Thunderbird Professor Christine Pearson, Ph.D., a curriculum contributor who attended the launch. “The material seems to be just the right level.”

Aprenda instructors repeated the free course twice in different locations on June 22. Overall, the program will reach 100,000 micro-entrepreneurs all over Peru within four years.

Many program participants have microloans from Mibanco and other Peruvian banks, and the goal of Proyecto Salta is to link access to capital with access to education.

Funding partners for the program include the Australian Agency for International Development and the Multilateral Investment Fund of Inter-American Development Bank.
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What were you doing over Memorial Day weekend? If you’re a member of the T-bird rugby team, chances are you were down at the pitch. This past Saturday, members of the Thunderbird Rugby Club put on a rugby skills workshop for refugee children who’ve recently been resettled in Phoenix.

Approximately 15 kids from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Bhutan took part in the workshop, where they learned ball passing, kicking and teamwork skills. The day ended with a quick game of touch rugby, pizza and lots of Gatorade.

“Although I wasn’t sure how they would respond to a sport that many of them had never heard of, they all obviously had a great time,” said Gabriel Sanchez, a volunteer coordinator with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, a group that helps with refugee resettlement in Phoenix. “On the ride home, my van was full of kids who kept telling me how much they liked the game and how much they wanted to continue playing it.”

Michael Milbank, president of the Thunderbird Rugby Club, organized the event so that the players could do something to give back to the community. He said that he anticipates the club will continue to take on more of these projects in the future, and possibly even organize a regular training program for the kids.

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When Thunderbird Professor Llewellyn Howell isn’t teaching, you’ll likely find him in uniform. Howell, an Emeritus Professor of International Management, is one of more than 110 local volunteers who dedicate their time– and skills– to the Glendale Police Department. Volunteers like him provide a valuable service to the city: last year, they contributed an estimated 22,500 hours or $450,000 worth of labor, according to the agency.

Howell first became aware of the program four years ago from his son, who is a detention officer for the city of Glendale. Since then Professor Howell has worked for the department about two hours each week, mainly doing fingerprinting.

“I wanted to take part in this because it’s a great way to contribute to the community where I live, but also because it’s a way to learn some interesting things,” he said. “I teach about police and law and order in my classes on political risk assessment. This gives me some background. Now when I go to places like Shanghai and I see officers on the street, I’ll take notice of their demeanor, or their equipment.”

Howell is a graduate of the Citizen’s Academy, a 12-week long training program that teaches volunteers in all aspects of police work. In his four years with the department, he’s assisted in credit fraud investigations, stolen car cases and more. He was recently recognized in The Arizona Republic.