Your Gifts at Work
$100,000 Grant From NTRA Charities Establish New UK Equine Surfaces and Safety Laboratory
A 2019 gift of $100,000 announced by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Charities will enable the University of Kentucky to further support equine surfaces and safety research under the direction of Dr. Mick Peterson. Funds will be used to renovate existing space within the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment to create the NTRA Charities Equine Surfaces and Safety Laboratory. The investment will allow UK to make a meaningful impact on the sport of horse racing through surface and safety research conducted by Peterson, a nationally known expert in surface safety and faculty member in the UK Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering.
Gift Helps Move Industry Forward in Equine Surface and Safety Research
Dr. Pirri Gift Becomes Pirri Equine Teaching Pavilion
In 2017, Dr. John Pirri Jr., a retired veterinarian and alumnus from the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, pledged a gift totaling more than $6.8 million for the immediate and long-term facility needs for UK Ag Equine Programs’ undergraduate efforts.
Pirri Gift Was Transformational for the Program
Christine Comella Brown Equine Scholarship Established in 2016
Reading from a handwritten set of notes, meaningfully written in purple, Dr. Stuart Brown, at the time a Lexington-based equine veterinarian and stalwart member of Kentucky’s equine industry, remarked on the life and legacy of his late wife, Christine Comella Brown, and awarded an inaugural scholarship in her name to University of Kentucky Equine Science and Management sophomore Julianna (Julie) Witt in 2016. Since then, four other recipients have benefited from his generosity.
The Inaugural Recipient Story