KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee, Knoxville announced Tuesday that Amazon has committed $750,000 for an endowed professorship in its Haslam College of Business.
The Haslam family said they will match Amazon for a total of $1.5 million.
The professorship will support faculty in the area of business analytics and data science.
“We are very excited to continue developing the relationship between Amazon and the Haslam College of Business,” said Steve Mangum, dean of the college. “We find it to be a natural partnership, combining our faculty’s expertise in data analytics with the rapidly growing industry demand for graduates with such technical skills."
The college currently offers undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees in business, preparing students for high-demand fields such as Amazon's fulfillment center.
“Amazon’s investment in our faculty will have a transformative impact on education and research here at the state of Tennessee’s flagship business school," Mangum said.
According to a release, Amazon Nashville created 1,000 new jobs in 2020, which places Amazon ahead of its goal of bringing 5,000 jobs to Davidson county.
“Amazon is investing in our communities in a way that will both create an enormous return on investment and benefit thousands of Tennesseans," former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam said.
Haslam, as governor, previously announced plans to bring Amazon to Tennessee back in 2018.
In the past 9 years, Amazon has invested 8.9 billion in Tennessee including infrastructure and employee compensation.
The release also states Amazon has created more than 25,000 full-time and part-time jobs across Tennessee.
