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Candidates for the Higher Education Director
Ron Hostick, CSFM
San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
Ron Hostick, CSFM is the sports turf manager for San Diego State University, a position he has held since 2001. He holds a B.S. in Horticulture with a Turf Management Option from Oklahoma State University. He attained certification as a Certified Sports Field Manager through STMA in 2004, the first person in California to do so.
He has been a member of STMA since 2002, and has served on the Certification Committee for two years and the Conference Education Committee for three years. He is currently the President of the SoCal Chapter of STMA, a position he has held since 2007. Ron has presented and moderated at STMA national conferences.
Ron’s background includes owning a landscape design, installation and maintenance company and a retail nursery. He was also a golf course superintendent at Bermuda Dunes Country Club in Palm Springs, CA. He has been involved in grounds management since the age of 12, working at local golf course during summers and holidays, until he went away to college.
Vision for STMA:
My vision is of an organization that works for its membership to provide tools for professional development and research directed to the sports turf industry’s specific needs. I believe it is important for STMA to continue to offer educational opportunities to help every turf manage at all levels provide safe and attractive facilities to our users.
vs.
David Schlotthauer
Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
David Schlotthauer joined the Brigham Young University’s Grounds Department in 1979. He has been working as the Sports Turf Manager since 2000. David’s responsibilities include all of BYU’s turfgrass; this covers 50 acres of sport fields, 5 acres of Synthetic Turf, and over 500 acres of turf on BYU’s academic campus. Other responsibilities include tractor operation training for all grounds employees and grass/weed control of the vacant lots owned by BYU. Before becoming the Sports Turf Manager, David worked for 21 years as one of two Arborist BYU employs. While working at BYU’s Grounds Department David continued to work towards his Bachelors Degree, which he obtained in 1992.
David has been a member of the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) since 2002. He has served on the Bylaws Committee, the Natural Synthetic Turf Taskforce, the Information Outreach Committee, The Playing Conditions Taskforce, Conference Education Subcommittee, and the NTEP Traffic Study. David has also presented on various topics at the last several National Conferences, including the Field Wear Index and Conducting Field Safety Audits. On the chapter level David currently serves as the president of the Intermountain Chapter of the STMA (IMSTMA) starting his third term.
Vision for STMA:
I believe that STMA should become the recognized authority in turf management. The STMA website should be the number one, go-to, source of information for the sports turf manager and turf managers in general. This can be accomplished in two ways. First, STMA should be the leader in partnering with similar types of organizations that support similar goals and ideals that we at STMA have. Second, have a strong internet presence. As well as providing access to TGIF, we should create an article archive on-line available through STMA’s website. By continual work on the article archive, the archive will become the largest source of information for the sports turf manager on the internet. Third, make available more educational resources to our chapters, which in turn, the chapters can provide more educational opportunities to their members and be able to reach out to more non-STMA members involved in the turf management industry.