Barry Cross, Jr. honored with the 2008 Diversity Pioneer Award, speaks on Invisibility
Barry Cross, Jr. of Elsie Cross and Associates accepted this year’s Diversity Pioneer Award and addressed the topic, “Making the Invisible Visible” at this year’s annual Diversity Speaker series. Click here for full story.

2008 Diversity Management Conference – Mark your calendar!
“Translating Theory and Research Findings into Best Practices in Diversity Management” – May 9, 2008, 8:00 am – 5 pm Alumni --- update your practices! Learn the latest Best Practices in diversity interventions. Click here to register

Walter Mosley, mystery writer, novelist and social commentator will lecture at Cleveland State University on April 14, 2008, Waetjen Auditorium at 6:00 PM. His topic will be "Revisting the Tempest Tales by Langston Hughes." Free and Open to the Public.

NEWS AND NOTES
Do you have a news item or a short article you want to share with the DMP community? Forward it to Lisa Gaynier at l.gaynier@csuohio.edu

Carol Walters DMP 9 (clynn102@sbcglobal.net) is your CSU Alumni Association Board representative. Contact Corrine Rudman-Dunn (crdunn@sbcglobal.net) to volunteer or if you have activities you would like to organize. We have lots of activities planned for 2008:

• The Annual Diversity Center Walk Rock and Roll May 3, 2008
• DMP Grads Consulting Consortium (see below for more information)
• DMP Alumni Survey - we'd like to know what kinds of services you would like us to provide. Look for it in your email in the next several weeks.
• Diversity Best Practices Conference May 8 (pre-conference workshop) and 9, 2008
• Professional Development Seminar Series - the first course will be May 8th - Barry Cross of Elsie Y. Cross and Assoc. and Herb Stevenson will teach a one day workshop on Inclusion models used by Cross and Assoc.
• Affinity Groups are being formed. Look for a film group announcement in the next newsletter. If you have an interest you want to share, notify Lisa Gaynier (l.gaynier@csuohio.edu) and we'll announce it in the newsletter.

DMP Scholarship Fund -- please consider DMP in your gift giving planning. Many of our students are not supported by their employers and there is only so much graduate assistantship money to go around. Please contact Lisa Gaynier (l.gaynier@csuohio.edu ), if you would like to make a donation.

Continuing Professional Development opportunities with our partners:
Gestalt Institute of Cleveland:www.gestaltcleveland.org
Gestalt International Study Center: www.gisc.org
National Training Laboratories: www.ntl.org

Want to flex your Writing Muscles?Have a technique or tool you want to share? Have a thought you want to expand? Consider writing an article for this newsletter. Contact Lisa Gaynier at l.gaynier@csuohio.edu with an article proposal.

DMP Consulting teams – call for interested participants
You asked for more opportunities to practice your skills. We responded with the DMP Consultants Consortium Program. Churches and non-profits are asking for your services! One of our teams is already working with an independent school on the east side. Our clients agree to make a donation to the DMP Scholarship Fund. It’s a win-win-win!

The DMP Consultants Consortium Program is designed to provide our alumni an opportunity to build their resumes by being a part of a CSU consulting team. This program is two tiered. The first tier is a volunteer opportunity for new grads to partner with experienced grads to offer low cost consulting to area churches and non-profits. After successfully completing five pro bono consultations, grads are eligible for paid consulting opportunities through CSU. Interested grads should fill out and send the accompanying form and your resume to the diversityprogram@csuohio.edu.Consortium Contact Form

Where Are They Now?
Have you made a career change? Gotten a promotion? Started a business? Landed a huge contract? Share your news! Send us a note about what you are doing and we’ll post it here! Send your update to Lisa Gaynier at l.gaynier@csuohio.edu

Rachel Elahee, DMP 7, an Atlanta, GA resident, has started a Life Coaching consulting firm. Send your congratulations or questions to her via Phone: 1-877-COACH80 or visit the website: www.novemgroup.com

Barry Cross honored with the 2008 Diversity Pioneer Award, speaks on Invisibility
By Min Keung , DMP 11

Barry Cross, Jr.’s talk “Making the Invisible—Visible” provided the audience with a feel for the current climate of diversity.   During a snowy Cleveland day, Barry Cross, Jr. of Elsie Y. Cross Associates, Inc. traveled to Ohio from Philadelphia to accept the Diversity Pioneer Award and to speak about current diversity issues.

          When Barry Cross exclaimed “This is not my mother’s diversity,” audience members leaned in a little closer to get the full impact of his message.  Elsie Y. Cross, his mother, was a pioneer in the field of diversity.  The climate of diversity has changed significantly since his mother’s days of even just ten years ago.  Like a work in progress, diversity is alive and changing with respect to the dynamics of language, gender issues, sexual orientation, physical abilities, age, religion, race, etc.  For example, our language when referring to different ethnic groups has changed.  American Indians are referred to as Native Americans.  The term “colored people” is practically extinct.  What was acceptable language a few years ago is no longer the vernacular that is used today by diversity leaders.  Mr. Cross emphasized his point – “making previously invisible groups more visible”, by talking about the wide-ranging diversity within the Latino/Hispanic and Asian communities.  For example, Asians consist of a variety of different ethnic groups such as Vietnamese, Koreans, Chinese and Filipinos.  By giving a name to previously unacknowledged groups, diversity practice becomes more inclusive.
 
          Today’s discrimination can be more subtle than the past.  Mr. Cross talked about micro-inequities, which are small events that occur that are hard to prove.  Some examples of this include the glass ceiling and equal pay for equal work.  Ways to combat micro-inequities and to inspire an inclusive workplace include forging relationships and stepping out of one’s comfort zone when working with cultural differences.         

Barry Cross left his imprint on the audience and illuminated the changes that are occurring in the field of diversity.  His talk left the audience with provoking questions and an eye turned towards the future.  Today, it is not Barry Cross’ mother’s diversity, and in the future, it will be our children’s diversity.  It is up to us to shape the diversity landscape of the future.