U. minorities the focus of annual 'Mentor Dinner'

Boasting alumni such as W.E.B. DuBois and Jonathan Baxter Taylor Jr., Penn has a long line of distinguished minority graduates. Last Thursday, at an event sponsored by the James Brister Society, University President Judith Rodin and Board of Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos told students that the advancement of minorities is a tradition they plan to continue. The Fourth Annual Mentor Dinner brought about 200 people to College Hall to listen to Penn alumna Christine Hikawa share her experiences as a minority in the workforce. Hikawa, a 1973 College of Women graduate, a 1976 graduate of Columbia Law School and the current vice president of broadcast standards and practices at ABC, encouraged students to "enjoy Penn." Emphasizing the importance of job satisfaction, Hikawa recounted her employment history -- starting out at a law firm and deciding to leave for a television network position. "Although I look great on paper, I didn't plan every moment of my career," Hikawa explained. Having moved up through the ranks at ABC, Hikawa now runs the department that reviews and amends every script that is aired on ABC. Defending her job as a network censor, Hikawa said, "we like to think of ourselves as quality control." She continued to describe the media business as rather tumultuous, saying, "today you may be it, tomorrow you may be out the dog door." "Careers are wonderful but remember to have a life," she added. Hikawa also discussed her experiences as a minority. "I think [the greatest challenge facing minorities today is] bridging the different cultures for individuals and trying to maintain your culture, especially if you're working in a job where the dominant culture is not your own," Hikawa said. According to Hikawa, the three most important ingredients for success are "friendship, chutzpah and luck." College alumna and first-year MBA student Suma C M reacted positively to the speech, saying, "she held everyone's interest and she spoke about very practical strategies for people looking for jobs? for instance the chutzpah -- not being afraid to approach someone who's in the position you aspire to." Shortly after Hikawa spoke, University Trustee Gloria Chisum, chairperson of the Brister Society, bestowed the annual Brister Society Award upon College senior Karen Chance. Chance was chosen because of her academic accomplishments as an International Relations and African-American Studies major and her community service as chairperson of the Senior Gift Drive and member of Germantown Friends, a program through which she teaches children about the importance of the performing arts in communication. Rodin also spoke about new initiatives, highlighting the inaugural Annenberg Scholars Program, which offers funds to students with financial need who have demonstrated leadership abilities. This year, three out of four of those chosen for the award were minorities. Rodin continued, broaching the relationship between financial need and academic performance, saying that statistically, students who have financial need have more academic problems than those who do not. She explained that the University is working hard to provide tutoring for such students and is trying to make funding a Penn education less stressful.