SALISBURY, MD. (September 13, 2013) — Perdue Farms has awarded a three-year, $125,000 endowment funded by the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation to the University of Delaware to establish the Arthur W. Perdue Graduate Fellowship Program in the university’s Department of Animal and Food Sciences.

 “The College is grateful to Perdue for providing funding for one of our greatest needs, graduate education,” said Mark Rieger, dean of the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Beyond the funding per se, the gift allows for a closer relationship between UD and Perdue, and we will learn much from each other as we collaborate.”

“The generous gift provided through the Perdue Foundation will be used to support the new Arthur W. Perdue Foundation Fellowship and support graduate education at the University of Delaware,” said Dr. Jack Gelb, professor and chairperson of the Department of Animal and Food Sciences. “The funds will be used to recruit an outstanding student to pursue the PhD degree in poultry science. In addition to working with faculty at UD, the student will collaborate with scientists at Perdue, and will travel and attend scientific meetings in the U.S. and abroad.  We are proud to be the recipient of this gift and look forward to training a top young scientist and future leader in poultry science.”

As an Arthur W. Perdue Fellow, the selected student will focus on possible research through the university’s Avian Biosciences Center in the areas of broiler growth and efficiency, muscle biology and physiology, and emerging infectious avian diseases and their control. Another area of possible research may focus on intestinal microbiology, physiology and impacts on microbial populations, including those that present foodborne disease challenges.

“The University of Delaware has been serving the needs of the poultry industry on Delmarva for more than 50 years,” said Dr. Bruce Stewart-Brown, senior vice president of food safety and quality at Perdue. “We’re pleased to establish a new legacy of learning and higher education through this grant from the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation. We value the opportunity to provide research opportunities to aspiring scientists whose work will benefit not only Perdue, but others in the poultry industry. We see this as a mutually beneficial partnership.”

As Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms explains, “Arthur Perdue’s legacy was built upon a foundation of having an extraordinary attention for detail. He was a pioneer in cross-breeding chickens and mixing his own feeds, traits that molded his unwavering commitment to produce quality poultry. He would be humbled to know his legacy lives on today, in part, through this fellowship program.”

About Perdue Farms
Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, and represents the Perdue family ownership.  Since our beginning on Arthur Perdue’s farm in 1920, through expansion into agribusiness and the introduction of the Perdue brand of chicken and turkey under Frank Perdue, to our third-generation of family leadership with Chairman Jim Perdue, we’ve remained a family-owned, family-operated business dedicated to making Perdue the most trusted name in food and agricultural products.  To learn more about Perdue Farms, visit www.perduefarms.com®.

About the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation
The Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Perdue Farms, was established in 1957 by company founder Arthur W. Perdue and is funded through the estates of Arthur W. Perdue and Frank Perdue. As part of our belief in supporting the communities where and with whom we do business, the Foundation provides grants on behalf of Perdue Farms in communities where large numbers of our associates live and work.  At Perdue Farms, we believe in responsible food and agriculture.

About the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Since being designated as one of the nation’s historic Land Grant colleges in 1867, the University of Delaware has had a strong commitment to educating students in the agricultural and natural resource sciences, technology, and economics. Today, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is a nationally recognized leader in the fields of animal and food sciences, applied economics and statistics, entomology and wildlife ecology, and plant and soil sciences. The University of Delaware Poultry Health System possesses outstanding, state-of-the-art facilities to support disease surveillance diagnostic services and research. Established in 2006, the Avian Biosciences Center was created to meet the growing, worldwide demand for safe and affordable poultry products.