GLENDALE, Ariz.: A student-led club that stands behind Thunderbird's commitment to educate global leaders who create sustainable prosperity worldwide is delivering on that mission.

Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management recently hosted 56 MBA teams from 34 top U.S. business schools to compete in the 2nd annual Global Citizenship Challenge which is organized by Thunderbird Net Impact Chapter, a student-run group dedicated to fostering corporate citizenship across the globe.

"All of our studies focus on complex global issues and cross-cultural relations that affect business on a local level. It is a natural step for us as emerging business leaders to begin to understand and work towards finding sustainable solutions that serve the community and provide continuous improvements to the way traditional business is conducted," said 2006 graduating student Dawn Lauter, the Thunderbird Net Impact Chapter president.

Teams in the competition were asked to come up with a sustainable solution to the question of how the public and private sectors can work together to further the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals relating to health care.

University of North Carolina took first place, George Washington University finished second, and Instituto de Empresa was third. The final round also included teams from Thunderbird, University of California Davis, University of North Carolina and University of Virginia.

The winning proposal offered a "golden carrot" approach: Whoever can figure out how to solve these issues can have the money. The UNC team looked at Tuberculosis in Indonesia. They calculated the cumulative financial impact of solving the issue there, with the idea that a percentage of that would be offered to the entity that solves the issue.

"What all the teams recognized is that neither governments nor the private sector can solve these issues alone," said Dr. Greg Unruh, director of Thunderbird's Lincoln Center for Ethics in International Management, who served as a judge.

Sponsors for the event include drug maker Merck, the X-Prize Foundation and Net Impact. For more information, please visit www.gcchallenge.org.

Celebrating its 60th anniversary, Thunderbird is the oldest graduate management school in the United States focused solely on preparing graduates for global leadership. More than 35,000 men and women in 135 countries have graduated from Thunderbird since 1946. Thunderbird is accredited by AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the North Central Association for Colleges and Schools, and the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). www.thunderbird.edu.

Thunderbird School of Global Management

Thunderbird School of Global Management

Founded in 1946, Thunderbird is the oldest graduate management school focused exclusively on global business. It is regarded as the world's leading institution in the education of global managers and has operations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Russia and Asia. Ranked No. 1 in international business by The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News and World Report and the Financial Times, Thunderbird is unique in that it is dedicated to the task of producing global leaders who contribute to sustainable prosperity worldwide. The schools curriculum is based on the principle that to do business on a global scale, executives must not only know the intricacies of business, but also understand the customs of other countries and be able to communicate with different cultures. More than 38,000 students have graduated from Thunderbird, and its alumni live and work in more than 140 countries.

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