Growing up in Detroit in the 1960s may not have set the stage for her life, but it certainly had an impact which has stayed with her.

One of four children, Cooke grew up in an urban neighborhood that was relatively diverse. She knew how to count in Finnish before she could count in English because there was a Finnish family that lived on her street. There were Polish neighborhoods nearby, as well as Arab communities and a significant population of Jewish people. In fact, Cooke grew up thinking that everyone ate bagels and lox.

"I was raised in a community where diversity was something you lived with," she said.

Cooke remembers, as a teenager, sitting on the steps of her father's funeral home, watching the likes of Smokey Robinson, the Temptations and other popular singers of the day enter Motown Records, which was located just next door.

The product of an integrated, yet predominantly white all-girls Catholic high school, she originally went to Aquinas College, a small Catholic school in Grand Rapids, Mich., to major in fine arts, specifically theater and voice. Cooke, who had taken voice lessons since the age of 11 but never learned to read music, would decide, however, to pursue another of her passions, international relations.

She completed her undergraduate degree in international relations and geography and went on to earn her master's in education in community/urban development from another small Catholic college, Marygrove, in Detroit.

When Cooke enrolled at Aquinas, she was one of only four African-American students in her freshman class. During her years there she recalls the school's efforts to increase minority student enrollment and retention. By the time she graduated the number had increased tenfold, she said.

"My awareness of and interest in multicultural issues probably became more apparent once I was out of college," Cooke said. "I volunteered at a migrant camp one summer in Grand Rapids, Mich., and I discovered that people were treated very differently because they 'spoke funny.'" For Cooke, it prompted what would become a nagging question: "Why don't we just acknowledge our differences and move along?"

"I developed my professional philosophy out of my own commitment to educate people that differences shouldn't hurt. I have really seen some devastating results - emotional, physical and spiritual - because of the misunderstandings of differences," she said. "I've committed myself, through my work, to help others see that difference never hurts."

To many even today, people of different ethnicities and racial backgrounds are still somewhat of a mystery, Cooke said. Because she learned at an early age that differences are not something to fear, but rather something that add value to life, she's hoping she can play a role on campus and in the larger community in demystifying these differences.

Cooke joined Old Dominion in 1992 after a three-year stint with George Mason University as assistant director of minority student services. She said she was attracted to Old Dominion because of its commitment to diversity.

According to Cooke, Old Dominion was one of the first universities in Virginia to change its focus from minority student services to multicultural student services, which also offered services and activities for the gay, lesbian and bisexual populations.

"I don't want the perception to be that Multicultural Student Services just serves students of color and gay and lesbian students," she quickly adds, however. "My philosophy is that we are a resource for the entire university community through the programs and events we sponsor."

Cooke said she is amazed by the phenomenal growth in the university's Filipino-American student population and notes that Old Dominion ranks high in terms of its African-American student population.

"Because there are so many people, to me, it is a wonderful kaleidoscope. The change, growth and dynamic always keep me energized in terms of what we do and how we do it," she said. "We get to see what types of issues students are bringing to campus and that our direction is focused on their academic, social and emotional development."

Although she enjoys working with students and knows that she will always be on a university or college campus, she still has a dream for her "other life," as she calls it. Cooke, who sang with a group in college and performed at clubs when she lived in Detroit in the early 1980s, still can be heard at a club or piano bar when she visits her old stomping ground in the Motor City.

Cooke said she hopes one day to open her own jazz club, "a smoke-filled room with performers singing the songs of everyone from Billie Holliday to Anita Baker."

- Tiffany Capuano