Alphin-Stuart Livestock Teaching Arena
The facility includes a 125-foot x 250-foot ring (31,250 sq. ft) with a prescription earthen floor, 2000 square feet of classroom space, office space, bleacher seating for 450, limited temporary animal holding pens, and a kitchen/concession area.
Col. Horace E. Alphin and Patricia Bonsall Stuart
The Alphin-Stuart Livestock Teaching Arena is named for benefactors Col. and Mrs. Horace E. Alphin and the late Patricia Bonsall Stuart.
Colonel Horace E. Alphin (DASC '34) is a native of Botetourt County and enjoyed several successful careers. After receiving a commission in the Army reserve and a bachelor's degree in dairy husbandry from Virginia Tech, he earned a master's degree in dairy bacteriology from Tech and spent five years as a North Carolina Extension agent. In 1941, he was called to active duty and began a long, distinguished military career in personnel services. Alphin retired as a full colonel in 1967 and began another career in personnel administration with the Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington, D.C., until his second retirement in 1979. He became a successful land developer in Northern Virginia.
Mrs. Stuart and her husband, Herb, were Arabian horse breeders from Afton, VA. When she was 14, Mrs. Stuart began a lifelong career of showing and judging horses. Her husband was a founding director of the Virginia Horse Council, and she served as secretary and president of the council. In 1991, she was named the council's "Horsewoman of the Year."
Building History
Since 1908, the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences at Virginia Tech has had a strong commitment to its students, the citizens, and the animal industries of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Department dedicated the Alphin-Stuart Livestock Teaching Arena on April 24, 2004, which was a culmination of more than 20 years of effort and planning. Approximately half of the funding for this $3.02 million, state-of-the-art facility, which supports the department’s teaching and outreach missions, was a product of gifts from more than 450 Tech alumni, friends, businesses, and organizations.
Congressman Bob Goodlatte, R-6th District, Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger, Sharron Quisenberry, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Mark McCann, head of the college's Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, all spoke at the dedication ceremony.
Address: 500 Plantation Road | Map Grid:
Originally Built: 2004 | Abbreviation: LARNA
Latitude: 37.21929 | Longitude: -80.43991