Watschke Named Interim Head of Golf Turf Management Program
Most of you are aware that Mr. Carmen Magro recently resigned from his position as coordinator of Penn State’s two-year certificate program in golf course turfgrass management.
Penn State turf faculty and administrators are committed to continuing the two-year program (now approaching its 50th year of educating golf course managers), and have just accepted a promising new class for the 2007 academic year.
Our intention is to consult industry leaders on the future direction of the program, and then conduct a national search to identify a highly qualified individual to serve as our new program coordinator.
For the upcoming year, the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences has retained Dr. Tom Watschke as interim coordinator to oversee the program until a permanent replacement is identified.
Application numbers are down and Dr. Watschke asks that you encourage potential turf professionals to apply.
Two Penn State PhD Graduates Named to Faculty Positions
Dr. James Brosnan and Dr. Ambika Chandra have been named to the faculty of the Univ. of Hawaii and Texas A&M, respectively.
Dr. Brosnan studied under Andy McNitt. His Thesis topic was “Effects of Varying Surface Conditions on Baseball Field Playing Quality.”
Dr. Chandra studied under Dave Huff and her thesis topic was “Coevolutionary Biology of a Parasite-Host Interaction”. Congratulations to our recent PhD graduates.
Students Place in National Competition
For the third consecutive year a team of Penn State turfgrass science students placed in the national Sport Turf Managers Association’s Student Challenge. This year the team placed 3rd out of 26 teams competing at the 2007 Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Penn State finished behind the University of Tennessee and Iowa State who placed first and second, respectively. The students would like to thank KAFMO and Toro for travel support that enabled us to take 11 students to this conference in 2007.
| 2005 | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Penn State | Purdue |
| Iowa State | Univ. of Florida |
| Colorado State | Penn State |
Tom Serensits wins Scholarship
Tom Serensits (M.S. candidate) won the 2007 Outstanding Graduate Student award from the Sports Turf Manager’s Associaton. The award was presented at the annual meeting in San Antonio, TX.