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AU Agronomy Students Know Their Turf
AUBURN, Ala. - From golf courses to home lawns, turfgrass is a popular business, and graduates from the turfgrass management track of Auburn University's Department of Agronomy and Soils in the College of Agriculture are a hot commodity.
Graduates from the program receive two or three job offers each, according to Beth Guertal, assistant professor of agronomy and soils. She attributes this to the growth of the golf industry and the fact that new courses are popping up everywhere. "It's amazing the way golf is growing in popularity," Guertal said.
In addition to working on golf courses, turfgrass management graduates are employed by lawn and garden care businesses, sod farms and athletic fields.
"It's a good time for turf," Guertal said. "The job prospects for our graduates continue to look amazingly strong."
The curriculum gives students a strong background of scientific and environmental understanding, so that they not only know the methods for managing turf, but they know why those methods are used, Guertal said.
"They understand there's a lot more to it than playing golf well," she said.
Turfgrass management is the most popular of the four tracks an agronomy major can take -- it makes up half of the departments 80 undergraduates -- but the business, production and science tracks are also very successful at preparing students for the job market. Graduates from these programs work in farm management, agribusinesses, such as pesticide, fertilizer and seed companies, public agencies like the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and the National Resource Conservation Service and in private consulting.
"We haven't had any problems placing a student who's willing to move," said Joe Hood, professor of agronomy and soils. "Upon graduation, there are consistently more good jobs than there are graduates to fill them."
The hands-on experience students get from internships, and the contacts they make in the industry, are invaluable when it comes to finding a job, Hood said. Internships are not required for the business, production and science tracks, but they are strongly encouraged. Students in the department have interned with chemical and herbicide companies, other agricultural businesses and the NRCS, Hood said.
The turfgrass option does require that its undergraduates complete a two-quarter internship with a golf course, landscape firm or athletic field, Guertal said.
"The internship is sort of a living lab," she said, "and getting out there in the business helps students get a job."
For students who need to work while in school, the department can employ them in their labs and in other research areas, said Joe Touchton, head of the Department of Agronomy and Soils.
Also, 25 to 30 students in the department receive scholarships each year, and most of those scholarships are specifically for agronomy majors, Hood said.
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News from:
Office of Ag Communications & Marketing
Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)
Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
by Anna M. Lee
