Peugeot Center Passes $1 Million in Donations After 12 Years

Richard and Mary Ann Peugeot have donated more than $1 million to the Peugeot Center for Engineering Service to Developing Communities at Lipscomb University. The Nashville couple established the center in 2014 as its founding donors. It coordinates engineering students for humanitarian projects in seven countries.

The center operates under the Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering. It organizes up to eight international and domestic projects each year. These include building bridges, installing solar power, and managing water and wastewater systems in regions from Central America to Africa and Nashville.

In May 2026, a student team traveled to Catacamas, Honduras, for the center's first oxygen distribution project. The team worked with Predisan, a nonprofit healthcare organization. They installed a new control panel with pressure gauges, relief valves, and control valves. The system now delivers oxygen to 21 critical patient beds via wall-mounted outlets, replacing portable k-bottles.

Mary Ann Peugeot joined that mission trip to Honduras in May. It was her first participation in a field project. She noted that the medical staff had thought the installation was beyond their reach.

"What I have observed is a priceless demonstration of love, teamwork, talent and selfless contributions of energy," Mary Ann Peugeot said. "As for myself, I am intensely grateful for this opportunity to travel with this group and be a part of something that is much bigger than we can imagine."

Dick Peugeot, 88, is an engineer who previously worked at the Y-12 facility in Oak Ridge. He served on the Lipscomb Board of Trustees for 17 years. He first met the organization when he helped install a radio repeater tower in Honduras in 2004. That project improved communication for Predisan clinics in the Honduran mountains.

Steve Sherman, director of the Peugeot Center, stated that the couple's support made the engineering mission program a reality. The center has hosted a national conference on engineering Christian missions and conducted federally funded research on humanitarian impacts.