" .. .TaY-
A R d. -
Crab-grass buster: OSUsenior Jeff Felton
RESUME
Watch the
Grass Grow
Try turf management
So you don't like working in an office?
You want fresh air? Have we got
major for you! It's called turf-grass
management, and you can join students at
schools like Oklahoma State, Penn State,
Kansas State and Nebraska to prepare for
a future as big as, well, all outdoors. With-
out turf-grass managers, America might be
overrun by crab grass. Who else can keep
golf courses green, reseed playing fields
and prevent roadside erosion?
Oklahoma State offers an especially ex-
tensive program. At the university's seven-
acre research center, students cover every-
thing from horticulture to herbicides to
landscape design. Many aspire to become
golf-course superintendents, a field in
which top professionals can command
salaries of more than $55,000. OSU offers
internships with golf-course superintend-
ents around the state, where students
can examine such esoteric phenomena as
creeping bent grass, the variety found on
putting greens. Because the 1988 PGA
tournament will be held in nearby Ed-
mond, OSU students will this year get the
special opportunity to learn how a club-
house gears up for a grand-slam event.
While dreaming of managing the course
at California's Pebble Beach, turf-grass
majors will probably start out with salaries
below $22,000, working for parks depart-
ments or lawn-care companies. But for true
grass groupies, the greatest job satisfaction
comes from working outdoors. Bill Bird,
superintendent at The Greens Country
Club in Oklahoma City, says, "Instead of
sitting behind a desk all day and wearing a
coat and tie, I get to do something I enjoy."
After all, how many jobs give you a chance
to sit around and watch the grass grow?
ZIVA HOBSON in Stillwater
What About ...
raduation's only a few months away,
and you're still fishing around for the
Perfect Profession. Problem is, noth-
ing really strikes your fancy. Wall Street's
taken a nose dive, law schools are churning
out a glut of attorneys and med school takes
forever. Maybe it's time to broaden your
horizons. How about a career in direct-mail
marketing? Or convention-center manage-
ment? Or maybe dental anthropology?
These are just three of the "101 best
opportunities of tomorrow" described in
"The New York Times Career Planner"
(Times Books. $9.95) by Elizabeth Fowler,
the Times's careers columnist since 1976.
Fowler predicts "a worrisome time ahead"
for the soon-to-be graduates: as aging baby
boomers cling to middle-management jobs
and corporate streamlining continues, suc-
cessful career planning will require more
creativity. In the "Career Planner,"
Fowler outlines the basic how-to's of pick-
ing and pursuing a career: how to choose
your college courses, how to plan summer
jobs, how to make the most of career-coun-
seling services.
What sets this guide apart, principally,
are Fowler's provocative two- to three-page
job profiles, covering the spectrum from
accounting to zoology. Surveying job de-
mand, salary ranges and necessary train-
ing, Fowler covers the old standbys-law,
investment banking, journalism-as well
as such newly growing occupations as di-
rect-mail marketing, grievance handling
and productivity expertise. Biotechnology,
she predicts, will be one of the nation's
fastest-growing industries, and she fore-
sees rising demand for robotics engineers as
industrial robots appear on more assembly
lines. For those with a flair for the exotic,
Fowler profiles a number of tantalizingly
offbeat careers, such as thoroughbred-rac-
ing management and nautical archeology.
And don't forget dental anthropology,
which is, of course, the study of oral hygiene
and dental habits in different societies.
STEPHEN WEST
Q. What does your
job entail?
A. Right now, I'm working for a
developer, dealing with property
owners and city councilors to
get a development off the
ground. During the legislative
sessions, I represent various
interests.
Q. How did you become a lobbyist?
A. When I was at the University
of Nevada, Reno, during my first
two and a half years of college, I
was an intern in the legislature.
From there I worked in the U.S.
Senate as an aide for three years.
Then I ran for office myself and
was the youngest woman ever
elected to the state Assembly.
Two years after that, I won a seat
in the state Senate. In 1986 I
ran for a seat in Congress and
lost in the primary by 1,000
votes. After the election, several
people asked me to represent
them as a lobbyist.
Q. How does what you do in Carson City
differ from what a lobbyist might do in
Washington, D.C.?
A. The goal for any lobbyist is
the same. But since most Nevada
legislators do not have a staff,
the lobbyist may be the only per-
son supplying the legislator
with information.
Q. What do you like best about
your job?
A. The ability to bring change. I
also get paid a lot better.
Q. What advice would you give to college
students who would like to become
lobbyists?
A. It's very fashionable to be
business-oriented, and you have
to have that knowledge. But
you'have to be able to communi-
cate with people orally and
have good writing skills. You
have to testify, draft legislation
and write a lot of letters and
statements. I urge students to
focus also on the social sciences
and communications.
Name: Helen
A. Foley
Age: 34
Occupation:
Lobbyist/
Consultant
Education: B.A. in
political science,
University of Ne-
vada, Las Vegas
I
32 NEWSWEEK ON CAMPUS
MARCH 1988