Industry News
SAM DOAK S
RETIRES
am Doak’s time at Virginia Tech began under two former professors when Dr. Schmidt provided him the opportunity to work at the Turfgrass Research Center before he was accepted at VT; then Dr. Chalmers was key in establishing a graduate student assistantship with the VT Athletics department, of which Sam was the inaugural recipient in 1994. Of his time studying at VT, Sam says, “My work with the athletic department in helping prepare and maintain the fields was the highlight of my graduate student days.” Following graduation, Sam worked several sales/agronomist positions before returning to VT to work as a research associate on a VDOT contract under Dr. Erik Ervin. While working as a research associate, he was asked to teach the introductory turfgrass management class for the Agricultural Technology (AT) program in fall of 2000; and he added the soils class about a year later in the spring. Sam gained his full-time teaching position in the AT program in 2005. “It has been equally rewarding to integrate the field practicum classes in the AT program where our students work alongside the VT athletics grounds crew, gaining practical knowledge through experiential learning in helping maintain the worldclass athletic fields,” he says.
JON DICKERSON I WELCOME
grew up just down the road from Virginia Tech in Christiansburg where I still live today. I am blessed with a beautiful family, my wife Laura and two daughters Eleanor and Rose. I love to spend time with them camping, and I also enjoy hunting, fishing, and going to the gym. The past nine research seasons I have had the pleasure of serving the turf team currently under Dr. Mike Goatley at the Virginia Tech Turfgrass Research Center in Blacksburg. Coming from an Environmental Science and Soils background, earning B.S. 2010 and M.S. 2013 at Virginia Tech, I had a lot to learn about turf, but thanks to a crash course in on-the-job training and being surrounded by so many talented turf team members I have grown to love learning about this field and I am eager to pass this experiential knowledge on. 10 | VIRGINIA TURFGRASS JOURNAL July/August 2021 www.vaturf.org
“The comradery, support, friendships — professional and personal-from the AT faculty and staff are the true highlights of my time with VT. To have worked with a group of friends of such uniformly high ideals, dedication, compassion and concern has truly been an honor, privilege, and a blessing. “All this would not have been possible without the love and support of my better half — Janet and help from the Good Lord above. Janet managed the young family as I went to grad school and worked my assistantship along with 2–3 other jobs to help pay the bills. She was the rock as I worked several sales jobs after graduation that kept me away from home a large portion of the time. Now we are looking forward to having more time for family, trips, activities, hobbies and occasional turfgrass-related teaching in Florida!”
I have big shoes to fill replacing Sam Doak as the Agriculture Technology Turfgrass Instructor and I plan to teach from the skills I have relied on for managing turf in a research setting. I will continue to utilize the many relationships and contacts in our industry to provide a practical, hands-on, on-the-job learning experience. It is my hope to develop new course curricula based on the demands from our industry partners and I look forward to this new challenge.
