Editor’s Letter

Happy Birthday Pennsylvania Turfgrass Magazine!

It is now 2022, and hopefully you are happy about it. Another season of outdoor recreation has begun, or will momentarily (we submit this copy nine weeks in advance), and the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council (PTC) and its technical advisory board are wishing you success, good health, and great weather. Do you know it was just 10 years ago that The Pennsylvania Turfgrass Magazine made its debut? The honorable Matt Shafer was the PTC President, Dr. John Kaminski was the inaugural Editor, my home was dependably tidy, and TikTok didn’t exist.

It’s been a great run and we are glad you remain a part of it! There have been retirements, promotions, and passings across the industry; an industry that evolves and configures as the turfgrass grows all the while. The Penn State Center for Turfgrass Science has evolved as well over the last 10 years, namely benefitting from the additions of Entomologist Ben McGraw in 2014 and Irrigation Specialist Brad Jakubowski in 2016. I’d argue this Turfgrass Team is as comprehensively stacked with talent as any, but of greater importance is the ‘how?’ or ‘why?’

Since the advent of the PTC, practitioners and stakeholders alike have benefited from the concerted, selfless efforts committed by a procession of industry leaders through the cabinet of the PTC Board. Over the last 10 years, cumulative contributions by the PTC to students and faculty of the Penn State University’s Center for Turfgrass Science exceeded one million dollars! This essential support facilitated undergraduate student scholarships, graduate student fellowships, student travel to national conferences, staffing, undergraduate student research training, symposia participation, outreach programming, instructional media development, field research and the purvey of associated equipment and supplies....and this is an abbreviated list.

WE ARE so grateful for your support and ongoing commitment to Pennsylvania Turfgrass. After 10 years, we are also now pleased to invite submissions of non-commercial articles penned by members of The Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council. Please do not hesitate to contact me, or the future editor, in this regard. Thanks again, and wishing you fabulous turf and sport in 2022 —

Max Schlossberg, Ph.D.

Editor and Assoc. Prof. Turfgrass Nutrition & Soil Fertility at The Pennsylvania State University