News from VT

The VT Turfgrass Team is pleased to offer its 2nd annual virtual Virginia Tech School of Turfgrass Ecology and Management (VT-STEM) beginning the week of November 7, 2021 and running through mid-February 2022. The school features 13 weeks of training in the principles of turfgrass ecology and management through both synchronous and asynchronous learning that works around the student’s schedule.

Each week’s training topic(s) will be covered in a weekly download of appropriate VT-STEM book chapters for the subject, and then expanded upon in pre-recorded presentations by the VT Turf Team member(s) for that subject. The opportunity for ‘live’ Q/A on the topic between students and VT instructors takes place by Zoom on Wednesday nights from 7-9 p.m. EST (all Zoom meetings are recorded and posted for later viewing for anyone unavailable at that time).

A pre-training quiz is offered prior to the weekly instruction to gauge a student’s current knowledge of a subject, and a posttraining quiz is available after the weekly Zoom meeting. All students that successfully pass all of the post-training quizzes are eligible to sit for the Virginia Tech Certified Turfgrass Professional exams that are offered in a virtual format upon completion of VT-STEM.

If you and/or your employees are looking for a comprehensive turfgrass training program that works around busy work and family schedules, here’s a great opportunity to improve your knowledge and skills in turfgrass management, get to know the members of the VT Turfgrass Team, and demonstrate your expertise to your peers and the public by the opportunity to become a Certified Turfgrass Professional. The program serves all segments of the turfgrass industry and we cover both warm-season and cool-season turfgrass systems. The cost is $515 per person.

Register at tinyurl.com/VT-Turfgrass-School

Questions? Contact Mike Goatley at goatley@vt.edu