The Wisconsin Turfgrass Association (WTA) hired Monroe Miller as its first executive director/ambassador. The WTA, founded in 1982, has been run largely by a volunteer board of directors. Miller, who also begins as a Golf Course Industry columnist in February, will add a new dimension to the association and bring a lifetime of experience and dedication to the professional turf industry to compliment the many previous successes of WTA.
Miller recently retired from Blackhawk Country Club in Madison, Wis., where he served as golf course superintendent for 36 years. During his tenure, he served on a number of organizations including the Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendents Association and the WTA. He presided over the WGCSA for two years. While serving on the WTA board, he helped raise funds to build the O.J. Noer Turfgrass Research and Education Facility, to hire two turfgrass researchers at the UW – Madison and to initiate four research fellowships that will fund turfgrass studies in perpetuity.
Over the years, Monroe has amassed several awards from his work in the turf industry including the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Honorary Recognition Award in 1989, the United States Golf Association Green Section Award in 2004, and being honored as the first golf course superintendent to be inducted into the Wisconsin State Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2005. The Badger Chapter of the Club Managers Association presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. The latest award he received is the 2009 Colonel John Morley Distinguished Service Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA). The GCSAA also awarded Monroe the chapter newsletter editor award for 19 consecutive years in the category of “Best content in a chapter publication with an unpaid editor.”
Miller’s main duties as WTA executive director/ambassador will be to further the mission of the association. That mission is to support turfgrass research and education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This includes funding of programs in turfgrass management and allied disciplines to enhance the understanding and general knowledge of the art and science of maintaining turfgrass. Wisconsin’s turf industries include sod producers, golf course superintendents, lawn care professionals, athletic field managers, landscapers, and suppliers to these professional turf care interests.
Specific organizational goals have been suggested and more goals will develop as Miller steps into his new role. Some particular objectives include increase funding for more turf research, implement an education program for state high school science students, enhance the organization’s website database, increase membership, and many more.