Media Contact:

Diana Orban Brown

Director-Marketing & Communications

Rutgers Equine Science Center

732-932-9419 or Orban@aesop.rutgers.edu
 

ALUMNI AND INDUSTRY LEADERS LAUNCH
ENDOWED DIRECTOR CAMPAIGN

 

     NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ (March 9, 2004) -- Alumni everywhere are being invited to come back to the Cook College campus this year to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the equine science program.  Gatherings will take place throughout the year, with a special open house planned at Ag Field Day on Saturday, April 24.  Further details will be posted as they become available.

 

     When alumni visit, they will see some major positive changes on the farm – new fencing, improvements to the Red Barn and the Ryders Lane facility (formerly known as the “Old Barn”), refurbished pastures that are home to nearly 70 research horses, and on and on.

 

     Alumni are launching a campaign to raise $2 million to endow the Center Directorship, to ensure that the Equine Science Center will continue its impressive research and outreach work for generations to come.  Heading that effort are two alumni, Dr. David Meirs II, VMD (B.S., Agriculture, 1950) and Dr. Christopher Puzio, DVM, MS (B.S., Animal Science, 1992), and Taylor Palmer Jr., all of whom have strong ties to the equine program at Rutgers.

 

     “Doc” Meirs was one of a small, determined group of alumni and visionaries who worked with the administration of Cook College back in the 1970s to establish the equine program as part of the Department of Animal Sciences.  He has been a member of the Rutgers University Board for Equine Advancement (RUBEA) since its inception, and recently was named Chair of RUBEA. He owns and manages Walnridge Farm in Cream Ridge, NJ, and is a practicing equine veterinarian. Taylor Palmer Jr., owner and operator of Boxwood Farm in Englishtown, NJ, is another longtime supporter of the equine program and was Chair of RUBEA for more than 10 years. Doc and Taylor are co-chairs representing the horse industry during the endowment campaign. 

 

     Chris Puzio and his wife Bridget own and operate North Rockland Animal Hospital in Stony Point, NY, which specializes in small animals and exotics.  He will be contacting equine program alumni as part of the effort to endow the Directorship.  He and his wife also will be organizing mini-reunions of interested alumni. Chris can be reached at his veterinary hospital, 18 North Liberty Dr., Stony Point, NY 10980, 845-786-0200, or by email at anubis2001@mac.com.

 

     Gifts in support of the Equine Science Center may be made in several ways. Further information is available on this site or by calling the Center at 732-932-9419.

 

     Click here for the Equine Science Center Campaign Update.