Category Archives: Advisors

Advisory Council

Advisors, Authors A-H, Generational

Diversity and Speech No. 46: The Art of Turning 90 – by Carlos Cortés 

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I never really thought much about turning 90.  That is, until April 6, 2023, the day I turned 89.  That’s when my daughter, Alana, asked me the life-altering question:  “Dad, what are you going to do special for your 90th birthday?”

“As little as possible,” I responded in my best bah, humbug voice.  “Maybe Laurel and I will go to Del Taco.”  Anything to avoid the deluge of obligatory phone calls and discordant group renditions of “Happy Birthday.” 

Continue reading Diversity and Speech No. 46: The Art of Turning 90 – by Carlos Cortés  →

DL Opinion columns

Holocaust education is necessary now more than ever – by Deborah Levine 

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Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

When I was invited to give a webinar for Echoes and Reflections, an organization in partnership with Yad Vashem (The World Holocaust Remembrance Center), I freaked out. This was Big Time and I better be good at it. Reviewing my documentary: Untold, Stories of a World War II Liberator and my dad’s wartime letters, I was reminded that not long ago, I made a similar presentation at a Chattanooga high school. A student told me that she wanted to hear “both sides of the story”. I wondered what she was seeing online, and knew that these archival documents are still relevant today, and Holocaust education is even more so.

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Advisors, Sports

The Deion Effect: Part Two – by Terry Howard

As Deion Sanders continues to hold the fascination of college football, even when his team loses, something else is happening wrote USA TODAY’s Mike Freeman:

“It may not make headlines, but it’s happening all across the country. In Black homes. In Black businesses. Black fathers and sons, Black moms and daughters, Black friends and workmates – so many in the Black community are talking about Sanders. They are saying that Colorado is Black America’s team.”

With that jaw-dropper segue from Part One of “The Deion Effect,” we turn to views from several sports enthusiasts who I asked to weigh in on this issue. And weigh in they did.

Continue reading The Deion Effect: Part Two – by Terry Howard →

Academic Articles, Advisors, Authors A-H, War

Comparisons of Anti-Vietnam War Protests and Pro-Palestinian Protests – by Marc Brenman

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Recently I was asked to compare and contrast the Anti-Vietnam War Protests of the mid to late 1960’s and early 1970’s with the current Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Gaza, and Anti-Israel protests, largely on college campuses. I was very active in activities against the War in Vietnam while in college and graduate school. I have some regrets at some of the stupid things I said and did. Therefore I try to understand the current demonstrators. I had a ox being gored—fear of being drafted. Thus, I had a personal stake in the actions. Today’s students have no such stake. It is especially notable that most of the groups opposing Israel’s stance in the Gaza War have no stake whatsoever in that part of the world. 

Continue reading Comparisons of Anti-Vietnam War Protests and Pro-Palestinian Protests – by Marc Brenman →

Advisors, Sports

The Deion Effect: Part One – by Terry Howard

Fine, go ahead. Write off football coach Deion Sanders as an aberration, the latest fad or distraction from stuff that really matters in the world today. 

And while you’re at it, for reasons of curiosity if nothing else, read about the “Deion effect” on the city of Boulder’s revenue bumps ($18 million from the team’s first home game) and sold-out games at home and away. And if you decide to replay recent games, good luck because your attention may get sidetracked by starstruck, sunglass wearing celebrities strutting up and down the sidelines snapping selfies while chortling …. “Primetime,” “Primetime,” “Primetime!”  

Love him or loath him, over a short period of time, Sanders has managed to jettison national disasters, an auto workers’ strike, political finger-pointing and the latest on an ex-president from front page news and dinnertime conversations.  

Continue reading The Deion Effect: Part One – by Terry Howard →

DL Opinion columns

Inter-generational education needed now – by  Deborah Levine

originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

All too often we look at the elderly as outliers to society, and the presidential election is embedding in our minds that being old is a non-starter. It’s getting harder to look at an elderly person and feel that you’re experiencing a great moment. Instead, they’re recipients of our sympathy, and objects of charity. That’s why funding Social Security is the only political issue focused on seniors. And that’s women who want to advertise products or be newscasters on TV face-lift themselves silly. The value of being a senior citizen is fading. 

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Levine articles, Social Issues, USA Culture

Tracking our Terrorist Destructors – by Deborah Levine

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I used to write about terrorist destructors in the U.S. every spring. My articles began with the domestic terrorism of the Oklahoma City bombing more than thirty years ago on April 19.  That’s when I became the community/media liaison for Oklahoma’s Tulsa Jewish Federation. It was shortly after the bombing destroyed the Murrah Building and so many lives were affected. I felt compelled to investigate what led to the deadliest bombing, prior to 9/11, on our native soil.  The violent hatred that I saw has not only continued, but has expanded globally, and now, it  encompasses the entire year.

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Advisors, Groundbreakers storytelling

Reflection on Women Groundbreakers Storytelling: Serving Diverse Communities – by Dr. Deborah Ashton

On March 7, 2024, women groundbreakers, who work locally and globally to serve diverse communities in their respective fields gathered in Chattanooga, Tennessee to share their stories with Deborah Levine, CEO of the American Diversity Report. The women groundbreakers were: 

  • LuLu Copeland – Director: Economic & Workforce Development Administration /Chattanooga State Community College, Exec. Director at TN-China Network, 
  • Dr. Gail Dawson – Associate Prof. of Management and Director of Diversity & Inclusion at the Rollins College of Business /U. of TN/ Chattanooga,
  • Vanessa Jackson – Program Specialist with the City of Chattanooga’s Office of Multicultural Affairs and one of Chattanooga’s first Neighborhood Relations Specialists,
  • Teletha McJunkin – For the past 8 years, she has led and coordinated international, multicultural, multi-lingual teams developing strategies in the areas of human and environmental rights.

Continue reading Reflection on Women Groundbreakers Storytelling: Serving Diverse Communities – by Dr. Deborah Ashton →

Advisors, Authors A-H

Again, cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face – by Terry Howard

I chuckled at the news a few years ago about farmers who whined and bellyached about those “illegals” flooding the borders – southern borders, of course. Well, those tax-paying “illegals” apparently got the message because over a relatively short period of time their numbers of crossings plummeted. 

Well, to the surprise of those forward-looking farmers, that summer much of their crops rotted in the sun because “illegals” were no longer available to pick them, and “real Americans” took a pass on those jobs.

Continue reading Again, cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face – by Terry Howard →

DL Opinion columns

International Women’s Day: Past and Present Converge – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Don’t be surprised that I love March, Women’s History Month. I was in the first Women’s Liberation March down Manhattan’s 5th Ave. in 1970. Betty Friedan led the march with NYC providing a permit for using just one lane of traffic. The 50,000 turnout was massive and Betty led us into the full width of 5th Avenue, startling law enforcement. I remember tripping over traffic cones meant as barricades. Unfortunately, some barricades seem to last forever. 

Continue reading International Women’s Day: Past and Present Converge – by Deborah Levine →