Emily Getty grew up on a dairy farm in Hudson Falls, NY, with a legacy of family members who attended Cornell. Getty promoted the dairy industry as the Washington Country Dairy Princess in 2003 and a part of the New York State Dairy Princess Team in 2004.

When Getty visited Cornell with her brother, then a first-year student, she was interested in studying promotion, communications, and grassroots public relations. She spoke with Professor Brian Earle and realized that the communication department at Cornell was where she wanted to be. She graduated with a communication major and an international development studies minor.

At Cornell, Getty discovered the best way to learn was to take advantage of the many off-campus travel programs. She joined the Cornell University Dairy Science Club and traveled to California and Italy, learning about different aspects of agriculture along the way. She visited India and Thailand with the International Agriculture and Rural Development class (IARD 602).  In the fall of her junior year, she studied in Monterrey, Mexico, where she taught English to aspiring kindergarten teachers.

“My Mom is always involved in helping migrant farm workers,” Getty says. “She instilled that passion in me.”

Getty’s passion drove her to teach a class called Dairyman’s Spanish, as well as help local farms and Hispanic farm-workers by translating with Friends of Farm Workers. Getty used these experiences in Washington, DC, where she worked at the United States Department of Labor. There, she researched Congressional voting patterns and demographics for immigration reform in the House of Representatives and the Senate.  

Getty is enjoying her last summer in Ithaca before working in a law firm and studying immigration law. She would like to eventually work for the government, possibly on the senate Committee for Immigration, to help write laws and change immigration policy.