Association News

Source: www.TurfMagazine.com

Bayer Superintendent Grant Program Winners Announced

For the fifth consecutive year, Bayer Environmental Science and The Environmental Institute for Golf are sending five golf course superintendents to the 2008 Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Education Conference and Golf Industry Show, taking place January 28 to February 2 in Orlando, Fla.

The purpose of this grant is to assist golf course superintendents with their professional development through participation in the annual event.

The winners are Eric Morrison, Groton, Conn.; William Irving, Kearney, Neb.; Steven Fisher, Camillus, N.Y.; Tom Forsythe, Thunder Bay, Ont.; and Christopher Moyer, Findlay, Ohio.

ASLA Calls for Awards Program Entries

The American Society of Landscape Architects released the call for entries for its 2008 professional and student awards program. The awards honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe and will be presented in October at the ASLA Annual Meeting and Expo in Philadelphia, Pa.

The professional awards entry deadline is February 1, and submissions must be received by February 15. Student entry forms are due May 9, and submissions must be received by May 23.

The professional awards jury convening in March will include Warren T. Byrd, Mary Ellen Cowan, Robert A. Ivy, Niall Kirkwood, Steve Martino, Elizabeth D. Miller, Dennis Pieprz, W. Gary Smith and Kongjian Yu.

The student awards jury convening in June will include F. Christopher Dimond, Cheryl Barton, Abhijeet Chavan, Barbara Faga, Walter Hood, Jane Kolleeny, Kevin Robert Perry, Kristen Richards and Kevin M. Shanley.

Categories in the program are general design, residential design, analysis & planning, research, communications and The Landmark Award. The student awards program also features a student collaboration category and Student Community Service Awards.

The 2008 call for entries is available online at www.asla.org/awards/2008/rules_entries/ .

ANLA to Launch Masters Program

The American Nursery & Landscape Association’s landscape division will launch its Masters in Landscape Business Management Program February 7 and 8 in Louisville, Ky. The program is an intense course for owners and general managers of small-to-medium-sized landscape design/build firms designed to improve profitability and increase competitive standing. The program will be taught by Marcus vandeVliet, president of MV Consulting, who has more than 20 years of experience developing and implementing operational systems for landscape firms.

GCSAA Scholarships

The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America has awarded scholarship money to 16 college students as part of the GCSAA Scholars Program administered by GCSAA’s philanthropic organization, The Environmental Institute for Golf.

First-place winner David Golembeski, New Milford, Conn., received a $6,000 scholarship as well as the Mendenhall Award. The second-place winner, William Overly, Louisburg, Kan., received a $5,000 scholarship and the MacCurrach Award. Both will also receive an all-expense-paid trip to the GCSAA Education Conference and Golf Industry Show in Orlando, Fla.

Shane Brockhoff, Carole Townsend, Chris Parsons, Ian Gallagher, Meghyn Stalcup, Gregory Caldwell, Christopher Skvir, Tyler Wenger, Jonathan Chase Webb and Nathaniel Watkin were awarded stipends ranging from $1,250 to $2,500.

Merit Winners Richard Gillispie and Jon Cancel won $500. Luis M. Casado and Roque Buendia-Perez were awarded $2,000 Ambassador Scholarships.

Project EverGreen Announces Third-Quarter Contributions

Den Gardner, executive director of Project EverGreen, released a list of those who have provided financial support for the organization’s educational activities during the period ending September 30, 2007. They include Andy Hull, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, Grasshopper Lawns, Inc., The Professional Landcare Network, The International Society of Aboriculture, John Deere Landscapes/LESCO, Nufarm Americas, Inc., Trugreen, Paul Stolzfus and Teresa Yocca.

Some programs Project EverGreen has been involved with include Yard Enthusiasts of America, GreenCare For Troops, the Landscaped Areas Award and Because Green Matters Scholarships.

Project EverGreen is a national non-profit organization representing green industry service providers, associations, suppliers/distributors, media companies, organizations and individuals.

Companies Attain GCSAA Silver Partner Status

SePRO Corp., Aquatrols and Cleary Chemical Corp. have pledged their support of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and its members by committing to participate in the association’s Partner Recognition Program at the “Silver” level.

SePRO’s key business segments include the aquatics industry, the greenhouse/nursery market and the professional turf/landscape management market.

Aquatrols is a specialty chemical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of formulation technologies that provide water, energy, labor and other resource savings for the turf, ornamental, agricultural and snowmaking industries.

New Jersey-based Cleary has supplied the fine turf and ornamental industries with plant protection products for 73 years.

Complete GCM History Available Online

Members of the GCSAA now have access to the entire archive of Golf Course Management Magazine and its predecessor publications through an agreement with GCSAA and Michigan State University’s Turfgrass Information Center (TIC). Through this online digitized archive, which can be accessed on the GCSAA Web site at www.gcsaa.org/GCM/Archive.aspx , members can browse year-by-year or search by term to retrieve PDF files dating back to 1933.

In the past, GCSAA readers could search the GCM archive on the GCSAA Web site, which only went back to 1996, or subscribers to the TIC’s Turfgrass Information File could search for GCM articles from the past, but would only see which issue the article appeared in, and then would have to physically find the article themselves.

As part of the ongoing project of GCSAA and MSU Libraries, as new GCMs are produced, materials will be scanned and made available one month following the date of publication.

PLANET’S Green Industry Conference a Success

The Professional Landcare Network held its annual Green Industry Conference in Louisville, Ky., in conjunction with the GIE+EXPO. Jim Martin, president of PLANET, reported that membership is up 4.3 percent and that PLANET certification programs have grown. PLANET and its legacy associations have issued about 5,550 certification designations and the number of testing candidates has increased by 66 percent.

Martin also stated that in 2007, PLANET event participation numbers were up, with significant increases in attendance at Renewal & Remembrance at Arlington National and Historic Congressional cemeteries as well as PLANET’s Student Career Days. He also noted how pleased PLANET was with attendance at the first ever GIE+EXPO.