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Dr. Gloria Mattera |
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Dr. Gloria Mattera, founder of the Geneseo
Migrant Center, was born in Rochester, NY 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 and preschoolers, and adult education and 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 dignity befitting the importance of their task." |
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