Dudley

Mary Jo Dudley has been named director of the Cornell Migrant Program (CMP) and a senior extension associate in the Department of Development Sociology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell University. She will focus on how Cornell can address farmworker needs through research and extension in the various communities in which farmworkers live and work. The appointment is effective Sept. 6.

CMP is a collaboration involving Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), the College of Human Ecology (CHE) and CALS.

"Because it involves so many constituencies, this job is going to be a real balancing act," said Dudley. "When I interviewed farmworkers in Immokalee, Fla., women expressed their desire for a better future for their children. When I spoke with farmworkers in Mexico, they expressed their desire to find ways for their families to come to the United States, and when I talked with farmers in upstate New York, they worried about having a reliable and well-trained labor force."

Dudley is thrilled to take on the challenge. "I am also excited about working with faculty and students across Cornell to promote research and explore opportunities for students to directly interact with farmworkers," she said. Much of Dudley's experience is in Mexico and Latin America, where many farmworkers who work in upstate New York come from.

Dudley served as the associate director of the Latin American Studies Program at Cornell from 1990 until 2004. She has worked closely with faculty, graduate students and undergraduates from all over the university on issues related to Latin America and also has collaborated with Cornell faculty to develop summer programs in Bolivia and Brazil that included internships for students.

"We are confident that Mary Jo Dudley can provide the kind of leadership the Cornell Migrant Program needs to sponsor, conduct and disseminate research that contributes to the improvement of the living and working conditions of migrant, seasonal and year-round farmworkers and their families," said Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "Mary Jo has excellent experience working with farmworkers, farmworker advocacy organizations, policymakers and the broader farm community."

Dudley's previous work includes research as well as extension. In a project sponsored by the National Association of Farmworker Organizations, she conducted more than 150 interviews with farmworkers, their families and their employers to assess the status of women and farm work on the East Coast. To address concerns raised in the Farmworker Women's Equity Project, she developed a communications network for Rural Opportunities Inc. to provide information about health and educational services for farmworkers via print, radio and phone.

Dudley has also served as a consultant to international organizations, including the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, and traveled extensively through Mexico and Central and South America. She is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian and has a working knowledge of French, Portuguese and Quechua.

One of Dudley's first tasks will be to establish an advisory council for the CMP. "The advisory council will bring faculty together from across campus as well as farmworkers, representatives of external constituencies -- including farmworker advocates, farmers, community leaders and others -- concerned with addressing farmworker needs," said Dudley. The advisory council will facilitate an ongoing farmworker needs assessment in the context of the farmworkers' communities and their employment. "The needs assessment will be critical for matching Cornell resources with the needs in the field," she said.

Dudley grew up in upstate New York, and her family had a vineyard in Hammondsport. She received a B.A. degree in counseling and Hispanic studies from Hartwick College in 1978, a master's degree in city and regional planning from Cornell in 1996 and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in city and regional planning. She received the Cook Award for Excellence from Cornell in 1998, the same year she was named a Distinguished Young Alumnus at Hartwick.

While at Cornell, she has served as adviser to a wide range of student organizations, including the Venezuelan, Chilean, Mexican, Honduran and Colombian student associations, and the Cornell Participatory Action Research Network. She was also the co-director of the Program on Gender and Global Change. Currently, she serves on the executive board of the Andean Information Network and the advisory board of the Cornell Committee on U.S./Latin American Relations.

Henry extends her appreciation to the CMP Transition Committee, under the leadership of Max Pfeffer, professor of development sociology, and the CMP Search Committee, under the leadership of William Camp, professor of education, during the past 1.5 years, when administrative responsibility for CMP shifted from CHE to CALS.

The Cornell Migrant Program has a 34-year history at Cornell. Originally created in 1971 by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), it was called the Agricultural Manpower Project and charged with improving the working and living conditions of farmworkers by working with agricultural interests, migrant program advocates and farmworkers.

In 1979 administrative responsibility for the program was transferred to the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in the College of Human Ecology (CHE) and renamed the Cornell Migrant Program (CMP).

Because of funding source requirements, the establishment of other farmworker advocacy organizations in the state and the changing nature of the agricultural workforce, programming has varied over the years. Projects have included agricultural manpower supervision, pesticide safety education, housing, nutrition and health education, training educators for migrant child-care centers, legal protection, programs that address cross-cultural understanding, discrimination and diversity issues, literacy, English as a second language courses, good agricultural practices for farmers and farmworkers, human resource management programs and an exhibit on the history of migrant farm work.

In 2002 representatives of CCE, CHE, CALS and Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) undertook an extensive review of the CMP and recommended that it be restructured to better meet the changing and complex needs of New York's farmworkers, including migrant, seasonal and year-round workers, and their families. As part of the restructuring, in 2004 program oversight was shifted from CHE to CALS and a new director sought.

A transition team led by Max Pfeffer, professor of development sociology in CALS and then associate director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, worked on developing a new vision for the program: "The Cornell Migrant Program is an academic program dedicated to outreach, education and research that contributes to the improvement of the living and working conditions of migrant, seasonal and year-round farmworkers and their families. The CMP also seeks recognition for farmworkers' contributions to society and their acceptance and full participation in local communities. The CMP envisions a vibrant academic program of outreach and education focused on the dynamic and diverse farm workforce of New York state and the nation. The program will sponsor, conduct and disseminate research helpful to farmworkers, their employers and the communities in which they live. It will inform employment, human and community development, educational and other public policies that address the needs of farmworkers. The program will be a reliable, consistent and comprehensive source of information for farmworkers, programs serving the farmworker community, agricultural employers and the communities in which the workers live."

The new director is charged with achieving these objectives by working with farmworkers, farmers and other stakeholders to develop programming that addresses the needs of migrant, seasonal and year-round farmworkers, noted Pfeffer.