Tower Restoration

"It’s going to be challenging enough to renovate the Tower, but I love how we didn’t stop there… making the Tower a green building will help the environment and is a strong commitment to the school's sustainable future. We’re taking the symbol of Thunderbird’s history and using it to create Thunderbird’s future. That’s just one thing that makes our project special."

–Andrew Burman '09

Tower History

The Tower is at the heart of the Thunderbird campus and its past is integral to Thunderbird’s original “global perspective.” It was built in 1941 and served as the Air Control Tower and Officers’ quarters during the operation of the Thunderbird 1 Army Air Field, where American, British, Canadian and Chinese pilots trained during WWII. The base was a free-enterprise venture funded by several Hollywood stars including Jimmy Stewart, Hoagy Carmichael, Henry Fonda and Cary Grant. It was designed to resemble a Thunderbird, based on the Indian God of Thunder.

In 1946, General Barton Kyle Yount purchased the Thunderbird Field for $1.00 from the U.S. Government and opened the American Institute of Foreign Trade to educate WWII veterans for business careers overseas. General Yount's vision of a global world led to the Thunderbird of today, the No. 1 international business school in the world.

Since the Air Field transitioned to a school in 1946, the Tower has housed administration and faculty offices, a language learning center, a student lounge, the Tower Cafe, and offices for Thunderbird institutions such as the Thunderbird Student Government and Das Tor, the school newspaper. For 60 years, the Tower has been the icon of the school grounds and the center of the Thunderbird community. In January 2006, the Tower closed due to structural issues and has been off-limits to students. The Thunderbird community has the opportunity to restore the Tower as a hub of campus life and to create a living treasure of the school’s history.