Hello everyone, my name is Kim Tiber and I am the new Turfgrass Research Field Facility Manager at the University of Minnesota. I am excited to be supporting the UMN Turfgrass team and I’m looking forward to the days when warmer temperatures bring more activity out to the fields.
I grew up on a dairy farm in east central Minnesota and took classes at both the University of Minnesota - Duluth and the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities before transferring to the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point where I earned a Forestry degree with an emphasis in Urban Forestry. I spent over a decade working at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse where I worked as a Groundskeeper before supervising the Grounds Department for 6 years. During my time at UW - La Crosse, I developed a passion for turf management and was an active member of the Wisconsin Sports Turf Managers Association.
Since the youngest of my two grown children graduated from high school in 2019, I have made several moves to relocate closer to my aging and widowed father who still farms 300 acres in east central Minnesota. I have spent time working in Facilities Management for MnDOT, working as a Cemetery Foreman for the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, and most recently as a Gardener at UMD.
Outside of work I enjoy hiking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, helping my Dad, and catching up with my grown kids who still live in the La Crosse, Wisconsin area. I’m glad to be back in the Twin Cities metro area retracing some of my footsteps from years ago. I’m looking forward to getting up to speed on all the different projects going on with the UMN Turfgrass team.