Charles C. “Buddy” Miller III and wife Pinney Allen made a $2.5 million donation to the College of Agriculture that will benefit a new poultry science center, according to a University press release.
The Board of Trustees approved today that the building will be called the Charles C. Miller Jr. Poultry Research & Education Center, after Miller's father.
Miller Jr. was a forward-thinking poultry industry pioneer, according to the release.
“During his 50-year career, Charles Miller developed the methodologies that transformed the poultry industry from a small individual-farmer operation to what it is today — a more than $50 billion industry that feeds both the United States and the world,” said Donald Conner, head of Auburn’s Department of Poultry Science in the release.
The elder Miller, who died in 2002, earned a degree in agricultural business and economics from the College of Agriculture in 1940. A successful poultry entrepreneur in Piedmont, Alabama, his innovations in contract growing, feed milling, breeding and hatchery operations led to major gains in broiler production and efficiency, and laid the foundation for today’s modern poultry industry, according to the release.
“Mr. Miller’s venerable career and nontraditional approach to the poultry industry parallel what we instill in Auburn poultry science students: to be bold, far-sighted thinkers who are not afraid to challenge conventional approaches in pursuit of solutions,” Conner said. “His foresight shaped the poultry industry and helped the industry grow to become the top agribusiness in Alabama.”
The Miller Poultry Center will replace the College of Agriculture’s existing Poultry Research Farm Unit, according to the release. The new center will be constructed in north Auburn off Auburn Lakes Road adjacent to the Alabama Poultry and Egg Association Feed Mill and Animal Nutrition Building that opened in 2012.
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