She has a smile that never stops and a deep, friendly chuckle that welcomes everyone. Since May, Ina Holm has worked as an Extension administrative secretary-"I'm the one who answers the phone." Her husband Tom is a UA associate professor in American Indian Studies.

Ina started as a secretary "because I really like people-especially the people I've met at this University since I started working here in 1981." She hasn't had many problems. Except-once in a while. "Holm isn't a Jewish-sounding name, so occasionally people talk about 'Jewing down' or tell Jewish jokes-jokes they'd never tell in front of me if they knew I was Jewish."

Ina and Tom are part of a story of two different cultures successfully blended for 26 years despite discrimination. Or perhaps, because of discrimination.

As a youngster, Ina heard herself called "a dirty Jew." Tom, a Cherokee and a Muscogee Creek Indian, grew up in a small Oklahoma town. He was told he should plan to be a janitor because he was an Indian and couldn't aspire to do anything else.

They met on a blind date in Omaha where Tom, then a Marine, was stationed. Ina's synagogue wouldn't marry them, and friends believed their union wouldn't last six months.

Twenty-six years later, their two sons are testimony to a philosophy of tolerance. "We've tried to teach respect for everybody, because there's something good in everyone," Ina says.

"We celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Easter, Passover, and take part in Indian ceremonies. We believe they should experience everything and know what both cultures have to offer."

It's a philosophy that truly celebrates diversity. What's more, it works.

Value-Added is going electronic. The College Executive Council has agreed to fund a student who will develop, organize and input the data to start a World Wide Web home page as a part of the overall College home page system.

Also, Value-Added will soon be available on the E-Mail for those of you who would rather access it that way. Printed copies will still be available.

Big agricultural companies are trying to sow the seeds of diversity. It isn't always easy, says the Wall Street Journal.

Several agri-business corporations are encouraging universities to introduce more minority students to modern agriculture. It's often a hard sell, for cultural reasons.

Many urban students think production agriculture-working in the fields, literally-is all there is to modern farming and ranching. In fact, fewer than 10% of agricultural graduates become farmers or ranchers.

There's an additional hurdle; agriculture is linked to the hard labor endured by their ancestors. One Black student at Ohio State University, quoted in the Wall Street Journal, said "Some Blacks have an aversion to agriculture going back to slavery."

In the 1990 Census, 65% of food and agricultural scientists were white males. Twenty-seven percent were women; 4% were Hispanics; 3% were Asians; and 3% were Blacks.

Agri-business persevere, nonetheless. A DuPont Ag-Products manager said, "It's important to have a diversified work force in order to have a diversity of ideas and thinking."

(The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19, 1995, Pg. B1)

In Mexico, imposing mansions are often located right next to small run-down houses. An unfinished building may have an elegant shop on one side, a well-kept home on the other, and an industrial area across the street.

U.S. zoning restrictions keep industrial, residential, and business properties separate. Strict regulations are common to keep housing conformity.

Americans believe conformity in a neighborhood increases the value of their properties. They often see the Mexican way of doing things as unwarranted laxity in zoning laws or a lack of pride in their neighborhoods.

Actually, a different way of doing things reflects differences in cultural attitudes toward land and home.

In the U.S. tradition, home owners see their houses as miniature castles, seated in their own park, like the great estates in England. The sense of ownership extends outward from the house into its surroundings.

In Mexico, "home" is inside the walls of a house, not outside. The sense of ownership is directed inward.

The 1990 census data provides the first opportunity to understand where specific Hispanic groups live.

• 23% of 13.4 million U.S. Mexicans live in Los Angeles.
• 44% of 2.7 million Puerto Ricans live in New York.
• 53% of 1.05 million U.S. Cubans live in Miami, Florida.
• 47% of 565,000 U.S. El Salvadorans live in Los Angeles.
• 77% of 520,000 U.S. immigrants from the Dominican Republic live in New York.
• 40% of 380,000 U.S. Colombians live in New York.
• 49% of 270,000 U.S. Guatemalans live in Los Angeles.
• Present in the U.S. in smaller numbers, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Hondurans and Panamanians are concentrated in New York City, but most Nicaraguans live in Los Angeles.

The names of choice were (percentages are rounded off):

• Black: 44%; African-American: 28%; Afro-American: 12%; Negro: 3%; Colored: 1%.
• American Indian: 50%; Native American: 37%; Alaskan Native: 3.5%.
• Hispanic: 58%; Of Spanish Origin: 12%; Latino: 12%.
• White: 62%; Caucasian: 17%; Euro-American: 2%; Anglo: 1%.
• Multiracial: 28%; Mixed race: 16%; More than 1 race: 6%; Biracial: 6%.

Persistence of Culture

American business culture is white, says Walter R. Hurdle, American Express workforce diversity manager.

"American values, traditions and sensitivities dominate the business world. If they want to be successful, Blacks, Hispanics and Asians conform.

"But as soon as many of us surround ourselves only with others who look like us, our behavior changes. Our style of communicating, joking, entertaining, even worshipping, reverts to styles that can be directly traced to ancestry.

Many ethnic white Americans do the same. "Only when we come together to earn a living, do we pretend there are no differences."

Pretending that corporate culture does not reflect white values won't work to reduce the inevitable conflict. Instead, whites need to be more accepting of values, tastes, and customs that differ.

"That's what diversity is all about. Make cultural adaptation a two-way street," Hurdle says.

"So managing diversity in America is fundamental for productive future global life."

"Employee communications will play a central role in strengthening the understanding between employee and the company...essential to productivity and growth," says Linda Bock, vice president of communications, Mutual of New York.

Listening for and seeing cultural differences as assets is a talent demanded of communicators. There is no alternative to frank and honest discussion.

Managing diversity is a long-term evolutionary process based on enlightened communications.

(James B. Strenski, Public Relations Journal)

Quote of the Month

"Time can be a major stumbling block. White Americans think we should go from A to B in a straight line and in the shortest amount of time-that's how we expect to achieve the American dream. "Among Hispanics, however, time can be casual, even vague. "When people don't understand time the way you do, there can be frustration, anger."

Mobility International, non-profit organization promoting travel opportunities for disabled. (503) 343-1284.

"The New Leaders: Guidelines on Leadership Diversity in America" Morrison, Ann M., Jossey Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1992.