All posts by Editor-in-Chief

Deborah Levine founded the American Diversity Report in 2006. She is a Forbes Magazine top "Trailblazer" and award-winning author of 20 books. Her published articles span decades including: American Journal of Community Psychology, Journal of Public Management & Social Policy, The Bermuda Magazine, The Harvard Divinity School Bulletin.

Women in Accounting – by Deborah Levine

This article in our Women in Technology series features women in accounting professions. A discussion group was pulled together with the assistance of ADR advisor, Larry Stone, who is then  Director of Professional Development for Decosimo Accountants and Business Advisors, commonly known simply as “Decosimo”. Larry has deep roots in the Chattanooga area and serves on the Professional Development Committee of the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA). The group of women that he assembled represent diverse professional and generational perspectives. They shared their insights on STEM education, careers, and work-life challenges …

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Global Leadership Tennessee Style – by Deborah Levine

A diverse group of leaders recently came together in Chattanooga to discuss the United States’ International Affairs Budget. The speakers were an unusual combination of representatives of the U.S. military, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC), and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce. They mingled with us attendees from corporate, government, education, and nonprofit organizations.  Given the tumultuous events around the globe, we were more than curious to hear what they had to say.

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Women in Engineering Part 2: Education — by Deborah Levine

A discussion among women engineers recently took place at the office of the Interim Dean at the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences/ University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Part 1 focused on career challenges; Part 2 of the dialogue highlights issues of STEM education. Convened by Lulu Copeland, the diverse discussion group included participants from the Chattanooga and North Georgia area.

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Bermuda Jews Part 2: The Immigrants — by Deborah Levine

(The Bermuda Jews History Series was originally published in The Bermudian Magazine)

In the early 1900s, Jewish tailors among the Eastern Europeans who arrived in America in droves. Only one tailor, my great grandfather, ended up as one of few Bermuda Jews. Picking up an Americanized version of his Russian last name, he became Axel Malloy passing through Ellis Island in New York City. He was better known by the first name of David, a name change that happened when he seriously ill. The family kept to the Eastern European Jewish tradition changing one’s name to hide from the Angel of Death.

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ABA’s First Hispanic President on Changing Demographics – by Deborah Levine

Stephen Zack is determined that the American Bar Association (ABA) does not give in to ‘diversity fatigue.’ Zack is the first Hispanic president of the American Bar Association in its 150 years. Not surprisingly, Zack has an ongoing passion for both the law and for the issue of diversity. Recent census numbers underscores Zack’s insistence that the U.S. legal profession to become more diverse. One in six Americans is now of Hispanic heritage; the Asian-American population has more than doubled in the last 10 years. But the increasingly multiracial American population is not yet accurately reflected in the U.S. legal system even though lawyers and judges should represent the community they serve. The ABA formed the first-ever Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities to address the disparity.

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Why Neil Young Has No Worries – by Deborah Levine

Neil Young is now in his sixties, with many great achievements and awards, including MusiCares Person of the Year. When Young received the honor given his decades of work with Farm Aid and Bridge School Concerts, some of the most famous musicians in the business serenaded Young with his own songs: Elton John, James Taylor, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow Leon Russel, and Keith Russell. Young was quoted as saying that he’d forgotten how many songs he’d written. When did cultural superstar Young hit retirement age? He’s at the point in his life when he either 1) created so many songs he lost count or 2) really can’t remember. Not to worry, Neil.

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When Ravi Shankar met James Brown — by Deborah Levine

On a cold night in Sixties, my cousin Sam and I escaped our Harvard dorms and headed out for a small neighborhood theater in Boston. I had the homesick bug; Sam cheered me up with a concert by a relatively unknown Ravi Shankar. Shankar was a musician who would eventually attract the Beatles, and the West, to his music. He was more of a cult icon in those days. I was an early entry into the All-Things-Eastern craze, having squeezed myself into a course on Buddhism at Harvard Divinity School. Even so, I had never seen Shankar perform or heard his music.

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Defying Gravity with Prima Ballerina Maria Tallchief — by Deborah Levine

Maria Tallchief, international ballet superstar, inspired the ballerina in those of my generation caught up in the Dance Fantasy. Like gambling fever, the Dance can be all-consuming, easily contracted and a life-long passion.  I caught dancing fever at first sight,  growing up in Bermuda. I stared, open-mouthed when the square dance caller yelled ‘allemande right’ and my older brother Joe and his friends flew around the circle formation. “Me, too!” begged my five-year-old self. “Can I, huh, Can I?” The caller looked pained when Mom asked permission. “Yeah, OK. But only if she can find someone who’ll dance with a kid that young.” The deck was stacked against me, but Joe paid a friend sixpence to dance with me. My love affair with dance was off and running.

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