ITHACA, N.Y. -- A new team has been named to lead the Cornell Migrant Program (CMP) and to suggest ways to restructure the program to better meet the changing and complex needs of New York's agricultural community, including migrant and other farm labor, their families and communities.

The announcement was made today by the deans of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and College of Human Ecology (CHE), and the director of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE).

"Our goal is to build upon the program's current accomplishments and partnerships across the state and to enhance future efforts by integrating a wider spectrum of Cornell research and expertise into the program," said CHE Dean Patsy Brannon.

Said CALS Dean Susan A. Henry, "Immigrants have become increasingly integrated into the economic and social fabric of New York's rural and urban communities, and needs have changed."

The migrant program, a university-based initiative founded in the early 1970s to address the needs of migrant farm workers, has undergone an extensive program review by a Cornell task force over the last two years. In the past, the CMP had focused on migrant farm workers, an important component of the New York state agricultural workforce, and their interactions with employers, working conditions and cultural diversity issues in their communities. The program also assisted employers of migrant workers and trained staff from agencies and organizations serving the migrant population. The CMP addressed housing, health, nutrition, literacy, English as a second language and diversity education. Effective May 17, the deans have named Glenn Applebee, associate director of CCE, as interim director of the CMP, and Max Pfeffer, professor of development sociology in CALS and associate director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, as leader of the transition team. Pfeffer maintains an active farm-labor research program. The transition team will be finalized next week and will include members from the CMP, CHE, CALS and interim director Applebee.

The team will consider the recommendations of the program task force and recommend strategies to implement change to the deans by December 2004. The team is charged with addressing the current needs of farm workers, including migrant farm workers, their families, communities and farm employers; continuing support for diversity efforts with farm workers, farm employers and communities in which they live; and improving the integration of migrant and farm-labor programming across both colleges and CCE with Cornell faculty research programs. This includes strengthening linkages with the education department in CALS through agriculture education and K-12 farm-family programming, and improving agricultural labor programs. Prospective sources of funding also will be addressed.

"It is vitally important to the state of New York that Cornell continue to provide educational and support services to our farm-labor community. But agriculture and its workforce have changed dramatically over the last 35 years," said Henry. "Restructuring the CMP will allow us to better serve farm workers and their families, the communities in which they live and work and the employers who provide jobs in this important sector of New York's economy."

Said Brannon: "CMP's achievements are widely recognized, particularly their promotion of cultural diversity and harmony in farm-labor communities. The Cornell internal review of the program identified areas that hold great value for the future and other areas that are no longer needed. In order to respond to contemporary needs and to leverage more effectively the Cornell research and knowledge base, the current work related to migrant farm workers will transition and be updated within a research and education program on farm labor. This will allow us to address better the needs of farm laborers, including migrant workers, employers and the farming communities."

The CMP grew out of the Agricultural Manpower Project started by CALS and CCE in 1971. It was transferred to the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in CHE in 1979, when it was renamed the Cornell Migrant Program.