The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) Turfgrass Science and Management Concentration – specialized curriculum in the Bachelor of Science in Plant Sciences degree – is designed for students pursuing careers growing and managing turfgrass for athletic fields, golf courses, public landscapes and residential and commercial lawns. The program combines the study of grasses, soil, water, pests and the human relationship with turfgrass.
According to Brandon Horvath, Ph.D., professor and turfgrass pathologist in the Department of Plant Sciences, the Bachelor of Science in Plant Sciences is a four-year program; and, in addition to the concentration in Turfgrass Science and Management, students can also declare a minor in a variety of areas.
“Every student, every semester has at least one course in our department in their program,” said Horvath. “So when they come in freshman year, they’re going to take at least one and usually more than one class that first year in our program.”
In addition, all students in the program take a professional development class in which every student in the turfgrass program is together in one classroom. This allows students from all levels of the program to build connections with each other before they enter the turfgrass industry.
According to Horvath, UTK typically has 40 to 45 students in the turfgrass program, and that number has slowly continued to trend upward.
“We’re continuing to identify avenues and areas where we can reach out and recruit folks,” he said. “The thing that we learned is that the vast majority of people don’t even know that turf is a background that you can get a degree in.”
Horvath added that UTK has been successful in raising awareness of the program among people who have played high school sports, those who are interested in working outside, and those more interested in hands-on learning.
When it comes to recruiting new students, UTK has a state turfgrass unit for 4H that allows students to do a turfgrass project. UTK has also conducted outreach efforts to high schools and invited high schools to campus for science days where high school students visit the research farm, do data collection and look at the characteristics of different species of grasses.
“We also have our own table at the Knox County high school career fair. Typically, the University of Tennessee gets most of its students from Knox County and nearby counties,” said Horvath. “We are also getting to the point with our alumni base that we have alumni at fairly prominent places directing young people back here.”
Of the40 to 45 students in the program, approximately seven or eight per year are true freshman, because test score and GPA requirements for first year fall term freshmen are fairly strict.
“Everybody else is in one way, shape or form a transfer student,” said Horvath. “That might be a transfer student internally, from a different major at the university, into our program. Then we get eight to 10 per year who transfer in from a community college.”
Horvath added that UTK has a robust program in which those who earn an associate degree at a community college (and maintain a certain GPA) have their core curriculum requirements waived, so they are left with just their college and program requirements.
According to Horvath, in addition to GPA and test score requirements for incoming freshmen, the other challenge for students is the high cost of a college education.
“You need to somehow get a return on that investment,” he said. “I think we do a pretty good job of laying that out and providing students with some truth in advertising. Most of our graduates are getting positions that are offering somewhere between $48,000 and $65,000 a year.”
According to Horvath, graduates from the UTK turfgrass program do not have trouble landing jobs. “I’m in my 15th year, and I can count on one hand the number of students that have had a tough time getting a job after graduation,” he said. “By and large, when our students get done with their senior year, they have at least one – and usually more than one – offer to start their careers.”
In terms of in terms of graduates from the program, Horvath estimates that 60% are pursuing careers in golf course management, 37% in sports field management, and then 3% sod/lawn/landscape/other.
“We have a couple of students who have their own businesses already, and they’re coming back to school to learn the science so that they can grow and improve their businesses,” he said. “We have a handful of students that are sports field centric and then the rest of them are more golf centric.”
Horvath said the numbers have skewed more toward golf due to the golf boom during Covid, as well as the increased pay scales in golf. However, he anticipates a shift toward more students pursuing sports field management careers in the coming years, especially with UTK’s John Sorochan, Ph.D., leading the turfgrass research efforts for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the resulting openings for students to work in the World Cup program and participate in internships at World Cup venues.
Despite the trend toward careers in golf course management, many students work with the UTK athletics department during the school year on the football field, baseball field, softball field and other University of Tennessee fields and facilities. Those pursuing careers as golf course superintendents will intern at golf courses during the summer, but then work on sports fields while at school.
“So they’re doing both and having conversations with sports field managers and golf course superintendents,” he said. “We have students who will switch from sports field to golf course or golf course to sports field. We don’t bias our students one direction or another – it’s largely about your career goals and what fits best with what you’re trying to do in life.”
With regard to internships, the UTK turfgrass program requires one internship, but students can get credit for two internships and are encouraged to do as many internships as possibly.
“Typically in your junior year, your curriculum in the fall is kind of standard – whatever you’re taking to fulfill requirements,” said Horvath. “But then, that semester, we start having conversations, advisory meetings, lining up career goals, and setting up internship opportunities.”
During spring of students’ junior year, they take a set of predetermined courses that are blocked in a schedule with no time conflicts, Monday to Thursday, all day with a break for lunch. Students take 13 semester hours of classes in eight weeks, so they’re done in half a semester; they then leave for an internship that runs from March until early August.
“They’re gone for almost five full months on an internship, and that helps with placement,” said Horvath. “They are usually the first intern there. When interns from other schools come in, our interns have already been there for a month, so that helps with leadership and extended opportunities.”
Horvath shared the story of a UTK student who interned at Fenway Park in 2018 (a year in which the Red Sox won the World Series). Because the student had started their internship at Fenway in March, worked all the way through summer, and went back to volunteer in the fall during the playoffs, that student ultimately worked enough hours to qualify for a World Series ring.
“The other thing that we do really well is that we leverage our relationships with folks in the industry to make sure students get a really great internship experience,” he said. “We’ve sent students to Wimbledon, the English Premier League, and all over the U.S. at Major League Soccer, NFL and Major League Baseball venues.
“Then on the golf course side, we’ve got relationships not just in the United States but internationally as well. So if students want an international experience, we generally can guide them in that direction.”
This fall, UTK will also host an event called Beacon that is designed to bring in industry professionals from golf courses and athletic field complexes. Those professionals will not only get to interact with UTK students, but students from other regional schools that UTK has invited to the event.
“The first day will be something akin to a career fair. Then the next day we’re going to do some plot tours at our research farm and talk a little bit about our research,” said Horvath. “It’s designed to be an engaging interactive session with folks who are interested in working in the industry and share some of the research we’ve got going on.”
Beacon will finish with a social event near campus and a football game that Saturday, which is also Ag Day, where alumni visit.
“We’re hoping we can get a broad swath of industry folks who are interested in finding students to work with them, and then bring in students from other institutions nearby. If we can get our 35 or 40 students to show up and then get 15 or 20 (each) from three or four schools, we will have 100 students that can engage with folks in the industry and find internship opportunities.”
For more information about The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Bachelor of Science in Plant Sciences degree, and the Turfgrass Science and Management Concentration, visit https://plantsciences.tennessee.edu/turfgrass/.
