Phoenix-based PETsMART has given $1 million to the University of Arizona's School of Family and Consumer Sciences to fund an endowed professorship in retailing and consumer sciences.
This professor will work in the school's Southwest Retail Center for Education and Research, which provides the link between industry and the school.

The position is designed to focus on retail research and coordinate the research done by the consumer sciences faculty, said Melinda Burke, the center's director.

"This person will do less teaching and more research," Burke said.

This professorship also will be the first full-fledged faculty position in the retail center.

PETsMART Chief Executive Philip Francis announced the endowment Thursday at the center's Global Retailing Conference at The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa.

"By funding this professorship, we have the opportunity to interact with a wealth of talent and to help educate tomorrow's retail industry leaders," Francis said.

PETsMART has grown into the largest speciality retailer of pet needs in the United States and Canada since the company's founding in 1987, according to a company news release. Annual revenue has tripled to $3 billion in the past three years, and Francis anticipates reaching $10 billion by 2010.

A national search to fill the position begins in 2005.