2025 Winner: Spanish-Language Workforce Development

Research Lead

Kathleen Sexsmith, Ph.D.

• Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology

Areas of Expertise

• Farm labor
• Illegality
• Gender and Migration
• International Development
• Voluntary Sustainability Initiatives in Agriculture
• Gender and Sustainable Agriculture
• Qualitative Research Methods
• Global Service-Learning

• Email kjs95@psu.edu

Full Bio for Kathleen Sexsmith, Ph.D.

Full Bio for Kathleen Sexsmith, Ph.D.

Extension Lead

Adrian A. Barragan, DVM, MS, PhD

• Associate Research Professor
• Extension Veterinarian

Areas of Expertise

• Transition cow management
• Dairy cattle reproduction
• Farm personnel training and performance
• Dairy production medicine
• Cow comfort

• Email axb779@psu.edu
• Office 814-863-5849

Full Bio for Adrian A. Barragan, DVM, MS, PhD

Full Bio for Adrian A. Barragan, DVM, MS, PhD

Maria Gorgo-Simcox

• Commercial Horticulture Extension Educator
• Affiliate Faculty Instructor, Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology Department
• Produce Safety Alliance Lead Instructor, FSMA Produce Safety Rule
• Latinx Agricultural Network Community of Practice, Leadership Committee Member
• Extensión En Español

Areas of Expertise

• Commercial Horticulture (Green Industry, Vegetable, Tree Fruiy and Small Fruit and, Mushroom Productions)
• Integrated Pest Management
• Farm Food Safety - FSMA and GAP
• Latino Community Outreach
• Beginning Farmer
• Conservation Practice

• Email mag38@psu.edu
• Office 484-335-2091

Full Bio for Maria Gorgo-Simcox

Full Bio for Maria Gorgo-Simcox

The Spanish Language Workforce Development team exemplifies integration at its best—bringing together rural sociology, veterinary science, and Extension education to improve working conditions for Spanish-speaking farmworkers in the dairy, mushroom, and tree fruit industries. Their collaboration has produced a unique portfolio of applied research, outreach, and teaching programs that respond to real-world challenges in agricultural labor, occupational safety, and workforce development.

Their work spans three key areas:

• Farmworker housing access, where they conducted extensive interviews and surveys with workers and employers to assess housing quality and availability. Findings have been shared with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Workforce Development Board and presented at national conferences.
• English language and workplace communication skills, through innovative programs like Success Skills in Spanish 4 Ag and proposals for microcredentialing that will bring language and production-related training to workers across six agricultural sectors.

Impacts of conservation and sustainable agriculture practices on occupational safety and health, a research frontier that this team is actively exploring through college-funded initiatives and pending extramural proposals. Their integrated approach has led to significant outcomes:

• Publications in journals such as Rural Sociology and Journal of Agromedicine.
• Competitive grants, including a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Research Grant and awards through the AgriProspects Workforce Development Network.
• Development of CED 497: Community-Engaged Learning with PA Farmworkers, a course that connects students with farmworkers through on-farm English tutoring and service-learning. This course earned Sexsmith and Barragan the Engagement Faculty Academy Fellowship for its social impact.
• Leadership in the Latinx Agricultural Network, which received the National Extension Diversity Award from USDA NIFA in 2022.

What makes this team exceptional is not only their scholarly productivity but also their commitment to engagement. They have presented findings to industry groups like the American Mushroom Institute, collaborated with the Lion Mobile Clinic to expand health services on dairy farms, and built trust with farmworker communities through culturally and linguistically appropriate programming.

Their work addresses urgent workforce challenges while advancing Penn State's land-grant mission of research, education, and outreach. By integrating disciplines and partnering across sectors, Kathy Sexsmith, Adrian Barragan, and Maria Gorgo-Simcox are creating pathways for safer, more equitable, and more sustainable agricultural workplaces.