Overview

Mary Jo Dudley is the Director of the Cornell Farmworker Program (a collaborative effort of CALS, CHE and CCE), and a faculty member of the Department of Development Sociology. She has extensive research interests in immigrant workers, farmworkers, US-Latin American relations, migration from Latin America to the US, and immigrant communities in the US. She is currently involved capacity building within the farmworker community in New York State. She is also engaged in research on farmworkers' contributions, farmworkers` perceptions about life in their new communities, farmworker empowerment, and gender and participation.

Research Focus

Mary Jo Dudley's research focus is on the needs of farmworkers in New York State. Her research interests include demographic studies, immigration issues, farmworker health, and Latino cultural understandings.

Outreach and Extension Focus

Mary Jo Dudley's extension efforts include addressing farmworker needs through on-farm workshops on language instruction, New York State and federal laws, immigration issues as they relate to farmworkers, as part of her broader efforts to build capacity among the farmworker community. Her extension activities also include education on diversity issues, and workshops to improve communication between farmworkers, their employers, and members of the communities in which they live. During 2007 her extension activities included the development of the farmworker service directory for New York State, collaborations with CCE county associations to expand their capacity to address farmworker needs, and the provision of student support for farmworker service providers through the CFP summer internship program. She also conducted several workshops with employers and service providers to share her research results regarding what farmworkers see as their greatest needs.

Instruction Focus

During Spring 2007, she supervised and provided instruction to summer interns. During Fall 2007 she taught DSOC 494: Farmworkers: Contemporary Issues and Their Implications, and continued to serve a primary advisor for the completion of a Senior honors thesis. She also provided instruction to Cornell extentionists, agricultural educators and producers through Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) in-service and commodity focused workshops throughout the year.

Additional Links

• Cornell Farmworker Program
• Link to CALS Research portal
• Link to CALS Impact statements

Selected Publications

• Derechos de Los Inmigrantes: Immigrants` Rights (dvd in Spanish for farmworkers) 3/8/07 The Cornell Daily Sun article, ?Students Intern, Learn on Farms' 3/26/07 The Cornell Daily Sun article, ?City Talks Immigration' 7/9/07 Tompkins Weekly article, ?Immigration Policy Leaves Farms in Limbo' 9/15/07 Ithaca Journal article, ?Immigrant Farm Workers Topic of Meeting' 9/27/07 GreenLeaf article, ?New York's Farmworkers: Toward Local Fair Trade' 10/1/07 Ithaca DSA presentation on Immigrant Driver's Licenses, Produced for Public Access Television, televised 10/2-10/5, speaker. 10/28/07 WICB Radio interview, ?Pleading the First' 2007
• 8/2007 Conozca Sus Derechos: Prepararse para de las una redada, Cornell Farmworker Program, Brochure. Derechos de los Inmigrantes, video Living and Working in The US: Driving Laws in New York State (English and Spanish versions) 2007

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