Students enrolled in a nonprofit management class at the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management have organized a brigade of 400 of their peers to volunteer in the Tucson community on Oct. 22.

The effort was organized to coincide with Make a Difference Day, a national movement founded by USA WEEKEND Magazine.
 
The Eller College students have organized projects in nine sites throughout Tucson in conjunction with Tucson Clean and Beautiful, City Parks, Pima County, Tanque Verde Schools, and a host of other nonprofits.
 
In one of those projects, Eller students will be deployed to clean four miles of graffiti around Tucson, including a mile-long stretch at the Alamo Wash (Lee and Alamo) and a two-mile stretch in the diversion channel from Alvernon to Pale Verde.

Other projects include removing grasses in the 800 tree wells along the Santa Cruz River and a host of neighborhood cleanups.

"Students realize their responsibility for creating positive social change in their community," said Karen Johnston, a student team leader. "We find that we have the power to make a big impact, and it's important to feel empowered about our community. We are looking forward to stepping up to make a difference while working shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors to help make Tucson a better place to learn and live."

This is the first year the Eller College's annual philanthropy day has been integrated with the national Make a Difference Day. The students will join more than 3 million people in giving back to their communities on a national day of service.

Volunteers will be assigned to a local non-profit to give three to four hours of service. Other participating organizations include Salvation Army, Ben's Bells and Tanque Verde School District.

The Eller College of Management at the UA is internationally recognized for pioneering research, innovative curriculum, distinguished faculty, excellence in entrepreneurship, and social responsibility.

U.S. News & World Report ranks the Eller undergraduate program No. 14 among public business schools and three of its programs are among the top 10 among public programs – Entrepreneurship, MIS and Management. U.S. News & World Report ranks the Eller MBA full-time program No. 55 in the U.S., and the Evening MBA program at No. 31.

The college leads the nation's business schools in generating grant funds for research. In addition to a full-time MBA program, the Eller College offers an evening MBA program, an accelerated MBA program and the Eller Executive MBA. The Eller College of Management supports more than 5,000 undergraduate and 600 graduate students on the UA campus.