Liz Gradillas is a firm believer in mentoring. "I wouldn't be where I am today if it hadn't been for Margo Santucci, the business manager in the Department of Nutritional Sciences."

Starting as a student assistant in 1983 for Nutritional Sciences, Liz has steadily moved forward until today she is an accountant in the same department. Of course, she's moved around a bit in the meantime to the Departments of Plant Sciences and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

"My job involves putting out a lot of fires and making sure the office runs smoothly, especially during out current transition to another department head," she says. Dr. Fred Wolfe will become department head this month (January). Liz still counts on advice and feedback from Margo Santucci; "she has high expectations of me, and I try to live up to them."

The newest member of the College of Agriculture's Diversity Committee, Liz tries to keep involved in College issues. For four years, she served on the Staff Council. She says she hopes the Committee will "hit issues such as the affects of differences in individual personalities, as well as different cultures."

A native Tucsonan, Liz credits her father with "pushing me and my two sisters toward higher education. He kept asking what we wanted to do, and I decided as a freshman at the UA that I wanted to work with younger children. Now I have my own daughter."

Liz believes in keeping busy. After majoring in pre-education at the UA, she left the field, married and became the mother of Gabrielle, now four years old. Her priorities today, besides her career as a full-time accountant, include raising ("and keeping up with") Gabrielle as a single mother, and going back to school.

She is pursuing a degree in political science, but her goals are even higher. "I want to go to law school, become a lawyer, and be an example for Gabrielle." A shorter term goal for 1997 or next year is "doing the Grand Canyon." She probably will.

Mentoring Programs for Women

Every company has its own objectives and considerations that must be worked into a formal mentoring program for women. However, senior management must always support mentoring for it to succeed. Work environment must allow (and support) interactions among management levels. And, mentoring goals must be clearly established.

The objectives commonly include:

advancing and retaining women;

developing women leaders at all company levels;

providing a way for women to form mentoring relationships and to support each other in their careers;

providing a forum for women to discuss key issues with management.

A mentoring program must fit comfortably with the organization's current culture. Effect needed changes through evolution, not revolution.

Establish written guidelines that state goals, training opportunities, frequency of contacts, a process to match mentor and mentee, and a clear-cut withdrawal process. Select both participants carefully; mentees should be skilled up-and-coming women with good interpersonal skills and leadership potential.

Build a solid communication plan to give the program validity, attract participants, and make management proud of the efforts. Everyone must be aware of the mentoring program's successes.

Both commitment and patience are critical in creating a mentoring program. The pay-offs will be well worth the effort.

Stephanie Allen, president of the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce and the Athena Group, 303-782-5060, as reported in Managing Diversity, 1/96

Illiteracy Bad for Business

The U.S. Department of Labor says illiteracy costs employers $225 billion a year in lost productivity. In a recent survey, 22 percent of C.E.O.'s said their companies have worker-literacy programs. However, these companies are usually large manufacturers, not the smaller, service-based businesses where more women work.

As a result, women have less access to literacy programs, which means less job security and fewer opportunities. For information, call the Coors Literacy Hotline at 800-626-4601.

"Career and Money News," Debra Birnbaum, New Woman Magazine, 12/96

A Business Imperative: Diversity

If you, your department, your business executives don't believe that diversity is critical for your success don't do it!

Of course, diversity is important. In fact, it's so important that it's better to wait until it's absolutely clear that diversity must become part of the organization's culture if it is to succeed. To introduce diversity without a clear understanding of the commitment involved guarantees failure.

When you believe you can't wait because:

you're losing potential good workers to your competition;

your share of the market is consistently decreasing;

your increasingly diverse market demands different methods of marketing; or

you want to eliminate the costs associated with discrimination or harassment then it's time to consider the whole system approach to diversity initiatives.

Recruiting from a broader, more diverse pool of candidates to add diversity to your staff will not stand alone. Merely adding diversity training won't work, either. Other methods that fail when introduced piecemeal includes deliberately promoting people who represent diverse backgrounds.

While these steps are useful, they fail because they don't take the entire system into account. Workplace diversity involves major culture change that impacts every aspect of the organization. Diversity is a long-term process requiring long-term commitment.

Peter D. Dailey, diversity consultant, 610-524-0534, Managing Diversity, 4/96

Fact: Affirmative Action Still Valuable

A library's worth of statistics show that qualified people of color and women remain so far from equality they need targeted programs to assure fair participation, according to David Oppenheimer, a law professor at Golden Gate University, California. The facts from various studies:

A white applicant was 4 times more likely to be offered a job than a similarly qualified Black.

When both applicants were offered a job, the starting salary was $5.45 an hour; when only the white applicant was offered a job, the hourly pay was $7.13.

Census data of workers ages 25 to 34, holding bachelor's degrees and working year-round, Black males earn only 78 cents to a white male's dollar; white women make 73 cents and Black females make only 59 cents.

Compare the 150,000 discrimination complaints in 1994 filed by people of color and women with fewer than 100 such claims by white males between 1990 and 1994.

In California's Silicon Valley, white women now hold 26 percent of managerial jobs, up from 7 percent a decade ago. However, the women earn only 60 percent of the money earned by white male managers.

Oppenheimer says that eliminating affirmative action means the near-resegration of America. "It will give us a world where white people allow the existence of a small, non-threatening black elite, and otherwise the non-existence of black people." This world does not truly value someone based on their SAT score. "If you ease up on employers, they tend to fall into old, bad habits."

Written by Derrick Z. Jackson, a Boston Globe columnist

The Disease of "ISMS"

Which is worse to be called a racist or to be a racist? If you're truly not a sexist, why does it bother to be called a sexist?

Rick Nelson, a diversity facilitator for U.S. West, says the first step in any healing process is admitting one has the disease. "And I very strongly believe that racism, sexism, and other destructive isms are diseases, of the mind, the heart and the soul."

We all need to move beyond our own dominant group, see the advantages it offers, and attack all forms of discrimination. "Often I see white women fighting sexism, but not even seeing their own benefits from racism. Or black men raising the flag of racism, but not dealing with their own sexism. Heterosexual people from all racial or gender groups are often not willing to deal with their own homophobia."

The dimension of physical/mental ability is rarely even talked about, as though people with disabilities are invisible or don't exist.

"Why are there very few people with disabilities in the workforce? Why are there very few women or people of color in positions of true power in government, education, religion or law? Why are there very few openly gay or lesbian people in positions of power? Why are older employees forced out of their jobs? The answer is ableism, sexism, racism, heterosexism, and ageism.

"The non-dominant groups have been fighting for years, for centuries, to achieve equality with varying degrees of progress. The dominant groups must take up the battle, for they hold the real power to change our world."

Rick Nelson, diversity facilitator at U.S. West, 402-422-2170, Managing Diversity, 2/96

Quote of the Month: Robert Benniga

"Since the Second World War, at least 50 different management theories have arisen it seems there's a different one every year. But I say the bottom line is if each and every individual in your organization doesn't feel happy in themselves, you'll face challenges. If you don't love yourself, it's hard to create any positive achievements.

There's nothing wrong with materialism so long as you pursue a win-win-win strategy. That is, a situation in which you win, the other party wins, and the planet at large wins. On Earth, we're all sitting together on the same plane, on the same journey. We can make it a great journey, or a lousy one."

Robert Benniga, personal leadership consultant, as quoted in the KLM magazine

Resources

Cultural Conflict: How to Reduce It: The purpose is providing state-of-the-art information about intergroup interaction, intercultural conflict, conflict resolution, and negotiation skills. January 17-18, 1997, Hotel Park Tucson, sponsored by University of Arizona. Registration fee $175 after Jan. 1; for more information, call Jody Wood, 520-621-1821.

Understanding Learning Styles to Enhance Teaching and Program Development: Addresses the learning cycle in relation to multicultural programming and includes development of curriculum, lesson plans and evaluation of community programs; assessment of instructional activities; importance of cultural learning styles. January 23-24, 1997 at the Kentucky State University Cooperative Extension facility, 400 E. Main Street, Frankfort, Kentucky. Registration fee: $150. Sponsored by CES National Center for Diversity. To register or for more information, call Ms. Janice Harris at 502-227-5904 or email her at jharris@ca.uky.edu.

Shattering the Silences: Minority Professors Break Into the Ivory Tower: PBS special, January 24, 1997. Program takes a surprising and provocative look at the success and distress of minority scholars in the humanities and social sciences in universities from Seattle to New York.

Worldviews: Global Forms of "Being" Through Indigenous Knowledge: Explores the concepts of diverse world views on the macro level (culture) and micro level (individual); the importance of "world views" as a specific way to understand and address solutions for transforming educational programs; use of experiential learning methodologies to stimulate individual and group self-knowledge; assess the education implications world views have for the creation of Multicultural Extension Programs; identify how diverse world views can benefit and the support the "mission" and goals of a pluralistic organization. February 20-21, 1997 at the Kentucky State University Cooperative Extension Facility, 400 E. Main Street, Frankfort, Kentucky. Registration fee: $150. Sponsored by CES National Center for Diversity. To register or for more information, call Ms. Janice Harris at 502-227-5904 or email her at jharris@ca.uky.edu.

Five State Multicultural Conference: Designed to increase cultural awareness, build effective multi-ethnic organizational skills, and recruit and program for increased diversity. March 20-21, Garden City, Kansas, sponsored by Kansas State University Extension Service, among others. For more information, call Carol Young, 316-275-9164, E-mail cyoung@oznet.ksu.edu

Creating a Culture of Inclusion: Participants will examine current trends that support the need for diversity education; analyze the dilemmas and opportunities presented by organizational change efforts; clarify and develop personal and organizational responses to diversity issues; and learn how to be an effective partner in creating a culture of inclusion. March 27-28, 1997, Kentucky State University Cooperative Extension Facility, 400 E. Main Street, Frankfort, Kentucky. Registration fee: $150. Sponsored by CES National Center for Diversity. To register or for more information, call Ms. Janice Harris at 502-227-5904 or email her at jharris@ca.uky.edu.

Pedagogy for the Oppressed: Sponsored by University of Nebraska at Omaha on April 17-19; registration fee is $139. For more information, call Rita Schaughnessy 402-595-2350, E-mail: pedagogy@unomaha.edu

Vision: To affect positive change in the CALS community by valuing differences and building respect.

The University of Arizona is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation in its programs and activities.

Content Questions/Comments: Billye Foster (billye@cals.arizona.edu) or Steven Crofts (scrofts@cals.arizona.edu)
Last Updated: 05/16/2005