PetSmart Endows Second Faculty Chair in Norton School

The company's second $1M gift will fund a professor of practice for undergraduate studies in retail.

Pet supply retail giant PetSmart Inc. has signed a $1 million endowment agreement with The University of Arizona’s Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing. This is PetSmart’s second major gift to the UA.

The new pact establishes the PetSmart Endowed Professorship of Practice in Retailing and Consumer Sciences. This endowed professorship was established to recognize and promote excellence in undergraduate education in retailing and consumer sciences, said Soyeon Shim, director of the John and Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, which houses the Lundgren Center. The Norton School is part of the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“The inaugural recipient of the named professorship of practice will be soon announced by the University,” Shim said. The first gift in 2004, also for $1 million, funded the PetSmart Distinguished Professorship, supporting a research-oriented position on the Norton faculty. 

The UA also will use the new PetSmart gift to launch the new Career-Wise Cats Companion Animal Track program, said Melinda Burke, director of Lundgren Center. The program will introduce UA students to careers in retailing, with a major emphasis on the PetSmart model.

“Our goal is to provide UA students with continuing professional development opportunities through this targeted multiphased academic program,” said Bob Moran, PetSmart president.  “PetSmart is invested in education and growth through developing and harnessing talent early. We will continue to encourage capabilities within the organization.”

PetSmart operates more than 1,000 stores in the United States and Canada, which provide a broad range of pet food, products and services, including pet training, grooming, boarding and adoption services.

“We value our partnership with PetSmart and are grateful for their vision and support of our programs and people,” Shim said. “This is a company that recognizes the importance of creating launch pads that will help establish pathways for successful outcomes for our students and the company.”