• 1928 -- Joseph Valentine, T. L. Gustin, and James Bolton petition the president of Penn State, Ralph Hetzel, for help with turfgrass research and extension education.
  • 1929 -- H. Burton Musser takes a part-time appointment at Penn State for turfgrass research.
  • 1929 -- First annual fine turf conference is held at Penn State.
  • 1930 -- Valentine, Gustin, Marshall Farnham, and others representing the turfgrass industry form the Turfgrass Research Advisory Committee, which functioned until 1955, when the present-day Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council was established.
  • 1930 -- Earliest reference found of turfgrass research, entitled "Growth of Turf Grasses and Weeds in Relation to Soil Acidity," conducted by J. W. White, F. J. Holben, and C. D. Jefferies; in Bulletin 258 -- Annual Report of the Director in Agricultural Experiment Station Report.
  • 1931 - 1940 -- Greenkeepers Short Course held at Penn State.
  • 1932 -- Turfgrass Research Advisory Committee persuades state legislators Fred Peters and James Boyd to sponsor Bill 1297, appropriating $10,000 for turf research at Penn State.
  • 1935 -- Fred V. Grau becomes Penn State's first extension turf specialist.
  • 1935-36 -- First turfgrass class offered, entitled "Fine Turf Grasses," in Announcement of Two-Year Course in Agriculture.
  • 1950 -- First Ph.D. in turfgrass awarded to James R. Watson, Jr. -- "Irrigation and compaction on established fairway turf" (research funded by USGA).
  • 1950 -- H. Burton Musser contributes article for USGA Journal, entitled "The Turf Program at Penn State."
  • 1953 -- H. Burton Musser and Fred V. Grau introduce, at annual USGA meeting, Merion Kentucky Bluegrass and U-3 (a Bermuda strain).
  • 1953 -- Musser and Grau release seed for Penngift crownvetch.
  • 1955 -- Joseph M. Duich joins the Penn State faculty.
  • 1955 -- Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council is established.
  • 1957 -- Penn State offers two-year certificate program in golf course turfgrass management.
  • 1959 -- Musser retires on July 1, after 37 years on the Penn State faculty.
  • 1970 -- Dedication of the Joseph Valentine Research Center.
  • 1983 -- Landscape Management Research Center (LMRC) is created to supplement research space at the Valentine Center.
  • 1990 -- Construction of Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building is completed.
  • 1992 -- Penn State's agronomy department institutes four-year baccalaureate turfgrass science major.
  • 1994 -- Mascaro/Steiniger Turfgrass Museum is dedicated as a testimony to two pioneers in turfgrass management: inventor Tom Mascaro and Eb Steiniger, former golf course superintendent at Pine Valley Country Club.
  • 1995 -- Senior lecturer George Hamilton patents PennMulch.
  • 1998 -- James Pawelczyk, Penn State's first faculty astronaut, takes selections of Kentucky bluegrass into space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
  • 1998 -- Penn State launches World Campus Web site, with A.J. Turgeon's "Introduction to Turfgrass Management" as the first course.
  • 2004 -- Penn State's turfgrass program celebrates 75th anniversary.