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 Dr. Gloria Mattera, founder of the Geneseo Migrant
Center, was born in Rochester, New York on April 16, 1930. She received her
bachelor's and master's degrees from SUNY Brockport and her doctorate
in education from Penn State. As a member of the SUNY Geneseo Education
Department faculty, Dr. Mattera developed and led a summer program for
teachers of the children of migrant farmworkers. She recognized the need
for services for migrant children and in 1968 founded the Center. It
soon expanded to include day care programs for infants & preschoolers,
and adult education & recreation, as these needs became apparent.
Recognized for her work on behalf of farmworkers at the local, state and national levels by her peers, the leading providers of migrant education and other services, Dr. Mattera received numerous awards throughout her career. MEMO, a periodic publication for the national Migrant Education Program, featured her in its April 1987 issue as a "Founding Mother" of migrant education. She was known to farmworkers all along the East Coast as "Doc Mattera." The Center she founded continues today to provide programs guided by her philosophy of respect and support for the workers, in her words: Let migrant farmworkers live and work with the
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