Starting a Journey to Success

This year over 250 students from Baboquivari, Rio Rico, Casa Grande, St. David, and Santa Cruz Valley high schools are participating in challenging and exciting interactive experiences thanks to a University of Arizona Agricultural Education grant.

The $44,994 grant, "Expanding Educational Opportunities for Culturally Diverse Students," was awarded to Kathryn Hollenback, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Education, by the Arizona Department of Education.

"Many times cultural diversity strategies are delivered a mile wide and an inch deep," says Hollenback. "This project provides nontraditional career exploration and planning experiences for minority students in science and technology occupations."

The focus is aimed at increasing minority student enrollment in high school science, mathematics, and technology courses and expanding their educational planning to include high-skilled careers.

In addition to the students served, over 50 teachers, five counselors, and five administrators receive comprehensive cultural diversity materials and training.

"The project does more than introduce students to career planning," says Hollenback. "The holistic approach provides students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to be responsible for their own career planning. It will start them on their journey to success."

The project provides educators at each school with the materials and training to better work with culturally diverse, non-traditional students enrolled in agriculture, health, and food production programs after the project is completed.

The project will serve as a model career planning system for culturally diverse students to assist them in identifying and planning for science and technology careers that may be of interest to them.

There's a misperception in the business world that the glass ceiling is broken and women have made it to the top of corporate America. The reality, however, is quite different according to the 1996 Catalyst Census of Corporate Officers and Top Earners.

Catalyst's statistics show that only 2.4 percent of classic clout titles in the Fortune 500 are held by women and fewer than two percent of top earners are women. While 1996 was the first year women held more than 10 percent of board seats, 10 percent is not a lot of women directors.

"Women in Corporate Leadership: Progress and Prospects," a Catalyst survey of 1,251 women executives and CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies is now available. The study examines the hurdles women face and the obstacles they have overcome, plus the CEO's views on developing and retaining women in upper management. For more information contact Catalyst, (212) 514-7600.

Managing Diversity, Oct. 1997

Women in Business

Do's and Taboos Around the World for Women in Business gives business women a resource to successfully interact with male counterparts when traveling abroad. The book covers: survival (knowing the culture, protocol, safety); cultural differences (a country by country listing of rules of etiquette); and dealing with harassment and discrimination. Intercultural Press, (800) 370-2665.

Holiday Happenings!

Weaving the Soul of Fiber
Hubbell Trading Post Display
and Weaving Sales
Friday, December 12 through Sunday, December 14, 1997
10 a.m. - 4 p.m
Arizona State Museum,
(520) 621-6281

Enjoy the famous Hubbell Trading Post where hundreds of the finest Navajo weavings will be displayed and sold.

Fifteen million American workers have moderate or severe disabilities that don't interfere with their lives enough to keep them off the job.

The disabled account for 14 percent of the employed population the greatest number having impairments with hearing, vision, or back-related.

Computer technology has opened up new job opportunities for the disabled. A center is now open where people with disabilities can try out innovative technology devices that allow them to make use of the power of computers and the Internet in the workplace or their personal lives. The Computer Access Technology Lab in San Jose, CA, a program of the nonprofit agency DPI, features more than 30 different hardware and software innovations designed to help people with a wide range of disabilities, from spinal injuries or visual impairment to multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, repetitive stress injuries, and temporary physical limitations.

"Our goal is to open new employment opportunities to people with disabilities," explains Dan Shafer, program manager and a registered occupational therapist. "Working with computers needs an agile mind, not an agile body. There has been an explosion of new products in the past three years to help people with disabilities do significant work with computers."

Equipment at the lab includes:

• Voice recognition software that allows the user to enter data into the computer without typing it on a keyboard.
• Headpointing systems for hands-free, remote operation of the computer.
• Screen readers that tell people with visual impairments what words are on the computer screen.
• Alternative keyboards including a chording keypad for use with one hand.
• Alternative mice including cursors that are controlled by a foot pedal, a touchpad, and a drawing pad.

Other devices available for trial include software programs for dyslexia, screen magnification, mouthstick typing device, armrests, and gloves to reduce repetitive stress injury pain. The lab also serves as a research and development site for manufacturers who want to see how easy or difficult it is for people with disabilities to use their products in a workplace situation.

Shafer says that 67% of working-age people with disabilities are unemployed. "That is why information technology careers-programming, software design, multimedia, graphics, tech support, and others offer such a wonderful potential for people with disabilities," Shafer notes. "These jobs provide a solid income, and there are many assistive technologies being developed to help individuals become valuable employees."

Shafer adds that people with disabilities often need a combination of adaptive equipment that works for their individual situations.

DPI is a nonprofit agency devoted to helping people with disabilities prepare for competitive computer- related employment opportunities. It was founded in 1980 as Disabled Programmers, Inc. by a former IBM executive, Thomas Puorro, whose son became a quadriplegic after a diving accident.

For further information on DPI or the new Computer Access Technology lab, call (408) 278-2000.

Careers and the Disabled, Fall 1997

What's New

Transcultural Management: A New Approach for Global Organizations by Atsushi Funakawa is a comprehensive guide showing how American and Japanese cultures have very different ways of communicating that often lead to conflicts. Funakawa's framework "Intercultural Business Management," has proven to be effective for transcending differences and breaking down communication barriers, to form a constructive dialogue across cultures. Available from Jossey-Bass Publishers, (800) 956-7739, $26.95.

Handbook of Intercultural Training is a single volume, condensed from the three volumes in the first edition, and is completely revised and updated. Written by the leading authorities in the field, it offers a summary of general research and specific training techniques in other parts of the world, for example, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Available from Intercultural Press (800) 370-2665, $29.95.

Getting Along is a motivation video that is perfect as an uplifting opening or closing to any meeting, convention, or training session. It supports a broad range of topics including: Diversity, Employee Orientation, Teamwork, Expatriate Training, Quality, Customer Service Leadership & Management, Empowerment, Communication, and Cross-Cultural and International Business. Cross-Cultural Communications (800) 858-4478, $49.95.