08/31/2005

Ceremonies Set to Dedicate AU Poultry Science Building

AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn University’s new 85,000-square-foot Poultry Science Building, located at 260 Lem Morrison Drive on the Auburn campus, will be dedicated Friday, Sept. 2, at 10 a.m.

The ceremony will include comments from AU Poultry Science Department Head Don Conner; College of Agriculture Dean and Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station Director Richard Guthrie; Bill Jordan and Gerald Bailey, both with the Alabama Poultry and Egg Association’s AU Relations Committee; and AU Interim President Ed Richardson.

During the event, AU Board of Trustee member John Blackwell will present a board resolution officially naming the building to retired Poultry Science Department Head Robert N. Brewer, who led the effort to make the new building a reality.

Poultry is big business in Alabama—a $8.5 billion industry, to be exact—and from the industry’s very beginnings in the early 1900s, Auburn University has been a major contributor to its phenomenal growth and expansion in Alabama and throughout the world. The dedication of AU’s new Poultry Science Building is being touted as a testament to the strength of Auburn’s program and also as a symbol of Auburn’s commitment to the future of the industry.

The AU Department of Poultry Science is considered one of the premier poultry science departments in the world. The new building, which represents an almost $20 million investment, provides laboratories, classrooms, and office space for the more than 20 poultry science department faculty, not to mention staff and graduate students. It also houses faculty in the AU Department of Nutrition and Food Science, representing Auburn’s commitment to multidisciplinary programs.

Work under way in the poultry science building includes research and Extension-outreach programs in poultry health, nutrition, reproductive physiology, management and genetics. It also encompasses a broad program in food microbiology, food safety and food quality, which comprise the AU Poultry Products Safety and Quality Peak of Excellence Program. Most important, the new building directly supports undergraduate students majoring in poultry science.

Opening the doors to the building was no easy task and took more than a decade of effort by the Alabama Poultry and Egg Association’s Poultry Science Advisory Committee and the AU poultry science faculty. Ultimately, a partnership of industry, federal and state governments, and AU worked together with congressional and legislative leaders to identify sources of funding, which eventually came from a combination of resources including a USDA-CSREES Building and Facilities Program grant, the Alabama Agricultural Bond Issue, Auburn University, and the Alabama poultry industry.

“As we officially open the doors to this new facility, we thank all who helped make it possible and hold this building up as one more example of the strong partnership between the poultry industry and Auburn University,” said Guthrie. “With this new building, the future is bright for growing this relationship to the betterment of the state and the people of Alabama.”

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu

For immediate release