Corvallis, Oregon
December 22, 2008
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Rob
Golembiewski checks out the turf at Oregon State
University's Lewis-Brown Farm. Golembiewski has replaced
Tom Cook as the director of OSU’s turf management
program. Photo by Lynn Ketchum. |
Rob Golembiewski wears a size 13
shoe, but that's nothing compared with the shoes he has to fill.
The former head of the golf and turf management program at the
Crookston campus of the University of Minnesota has replaced Tom
Cook as the director of Oregon
State University’s turf management program.
Thirty-one years ago, the hardworking and revered Cook, who
retired this fall, single-handedly created the program, which
has produced superintendents at prominent golf courses,
including California's Pebble Beach and Oregon's Bandon Dunes.
He also led the development of new grass mixes that require less
water and fewer chemicals, and devised new approaches to making
golf courses environmentally "green."
In recognition of his work, the Golf Course Superintendents
Association of America bestowed upon Cook its highest honor, the
Distinguished Service Award.
"It’s phenomenal what Tom did as a one-man show," said
Golembiewski, who launched Montana State University's turf
program and co-owned a landscaping company for six years in
Arizona. “I have an appreciation for what he built. I’ll be very
protective of it, and I look forward to taking it to the next
level.”
He has wasted no time getting down to work. He clocks at least
12 hours a day teaching, picking the brains of industry
professionals over lunch and speaking at conferences. On
weekends, he’s at his office, which he painted himself – a
luminous Beaver orange. ("It was a little brighter than I
expected," he confessed.)
Right now, he's deciding what research projects to take on.
"I’ve been visiting with turf breeders, golf course
superintendents and landscapers trying to get feedback about
what the Pacific Northwest industry sees as key issues," said
Golembiewski, the holder of the newly created N.B. and
Jacqueline Giustina Professorship in Turf Management. “I want to
do research that will impact the Northwest and the nation.”
He plans to continue the program’s research on perennial
ryegrass as part of the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program;
on the fertility of annual bluegrass; and on the performance of
certain grass mixtures in shaded conditions. All of this
research is conducted on five acres of experimental plots and
putting greens at OSU's Lewis-Brown Farm. Golembiewski is
planning to expand the putting green area there by up to 10,000
square feet.
He is also looking to enhance what takes place inside the
classroom. He plans to meet this month with a committee of
industry representatives to hear its thoughts on how graduates
of the program have performed at the representatives' companies.
"They’ll assess the skills that our students have and don’t
have, what courses we should offer based off that, and how our
current curriculum stacks up," he said.
OSU offers a 13-credit, four-course turf curriculum as an option
for students majoring in horticulture. Golembiewski is thinking
of adding a course in turf ecology and another in turf pest
management, but he wants to hear the committee’s thoughts first.
The committee will include golf course superintendents,
landscapers and a representative from the sports turf business.
He’d also like to see OSU hire an additional full-time turf
faculty member. Like Cook, Golembiewski runs the program by
himself with help from a research assistant.
Unlike Cook, though, Golembiewski doesn't have to scramble to
gather grants and donations to fund his employment during the
summer. Earlier this year, the family of the late OSU alumnus
Nat Giustina announced that it had donated $1 million to endow a
professorship for Cook's replacement.
Golembiewski’s endowment is a far cry from his first paid job in
the business. That was back when he was a teenager taking care
of a neighbor’s immaculate yard.
"They loved me because I was meticulous," said Golembiewski, 39,
the second youngest of 11 children.
The day after graduating from high school, he landed a summer
job researching turfgrass at Michigan State University.
"My first day, they gave me a project," he said. "I took 40
flats, filled them with soil, put Kentucky bluegrass sod into
them, plugged them with creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass,
and sprayed bacteria over the flats to evaluate biological
control agents. I was covered in soil and sweat. I got home and
thought what the heck am I doing?"
But he discovered that he liked conducting research that
benefited others. So he went on to earn a master's in botany and
plant pathology from Michigan State University and a doctorate
in agronomy, specializing in turfgrass science, from The Ohio
State University.
When it comes to his own yard, the Michigan native describes
himself as a perfectionist. "I mow straight lines and pick up
every leaf," he said. "I love to work in the yard."
By: Tiffany Woods |
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