State’s First Turfgrass Management Bachelor's to be Offered at SUNY Cobleskill

New York State Education Department has approved the awarding of the state’s first bachelor’s degrees in Turfgrass Management at SUNY Cobleskill.  The Bachelor of Technology in Turfgrass Management:  Golf Turf Management focuses on the production and maintenance of different specialty grasses for the greens, fairways and tees of golf courses. The Bachelor of Technology in Turfgrass Management:  Sports Turf Management focuses on the cultivation and management of specialty grasses for sports fields and recreation areas.

According to SUNY Cobleskill Professor of Turfgrass Management Zhongchun “ZJ” Jiang, the fields, once closely related, have diverged into distinct fields with different cultural practices and emphases, and now have separate professional organizations.  SUNY Cobleskill has always offered turfgrass management courses, but the field was previously treated as a concentration under Plant Science. 

“SUNY Cobleskill has a tradition of excellence in teaching turfgrass management courses and has produced nationally renowned golf course superintendents and turf managers,” said Jaing.  “However, recruitment was often via word of mouth through the industry, and programs were difficult for potential students to identify because of inclusion under Plant Science.    These new bachelor’s degrees clearly define the fields, make the programs more identifiable for students, and make admissions marketing to those potential students easier.”

Jaing says the new Turfgrass Management bachelor’s degree programs include rigorous coursework in the field not required in the concentration under Plant Science.  “In the Plant Science program with a concentration in Turfgrass Management, it might have been possible for some student to avoid what is really essential coursework, such as Plant Pathology or Weed Identification,” Jiang said.  “Under the new requirements for the Bachelors of Technology in Turfgrass Management, such courses are major field requirements.”

The State University of New York has previously offered coursework under Plant Science in turfgrass management, but had only one associate’s degree program under the title Turfgrass Management.  SUNY Cobleskill’s application stimulated separate recognition of the field for bachelor’s degrees by New York State Education Department.  The college received support for its application from New York State Turfgrass Association, Inc.

According to a New York Agricultural Statistics Service survey conducted in 2003 turfgrass had ballooned to a $5.1 billion a year industry in New York State, managing 3.42 million acres and employing greater than 43,000.  There were 860 golf courses with over 101,000 acres of turf, over 18,000 acres of school sports fields, and 350 parks in New York maintaining over 11,000 sports fields and playgrounds.

Enrollment for the Bachelors of Technology in Turfgrass Management at SUNY Cobleskill will begin with the spring 2008 semester.