An institution recognized around the world for its business and management course offerings expects to see construction begin on its new home in Phoenix next year.
The Thunderbird School of Management, which was launched just after World War II as the Arizona Institute for Foreign Trade, has been a mainstay in nearby Glendale for more than seven decades.
But officials with both Thunderbird and Arizona State University have now agreed to build a new five-story structure between First and Second Street in downtown Phoenix that will house the school’s classrooms, offices, and meeting rooms, and will additionally include a rooftop function space.
The new school will be part of an ASU campus that includes the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
In a statement, Thunderbird Chief Executive Officer Allen Morrison said that construction of the new school will provide “an opportunity to connect much more broadly with the resources, the professors, the intellectual property that’s available in this cluster of graduate professional schools in the downtown location of Arizona State University.”
Thunderbird, listed by U.S. News & World Report as the fourth best school in the country for its international masters of business administration programs, was acquired by ASU in 2014.
The new school is expected to be completed by the end of 2020, in time for classes in January of the following year.
