It’s going to be quite a week.

Today, of course, is the national holiday that celebrates the birth of the legendary civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tomorrow, the nation and the world will witness history in the making as the first African-American is sworn in as President of the United States. Looking at these two events together, one can’t help but appreciate how far this nation has come as the last racial barrier in U.S. politics comes crashing down. However, we must be mindful of the fact that the road to full equality is still ahead of us, and it’s quite long — especially in the U.S. workplace.

If you have any doubts about this premise, take into account that as of January 1, there were only 13 female CEOs running America’s largest 500 publicly traded companies. According to the research firm Catalyst, women receive six in 10 college degrees, yet there are fewer female directors and officers.

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When Patrice Hall sat in Denver’s Mile High Stadium listening to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) last August, she had never felt so inspired and hopeful.

After almost two decades in line management, Hall has spent the last 13 years as a diversity executive, most recently as head of the Global Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Practice for ORC Worldwide, a leading HR consulting firm. Before that, she spearheaded the diversity efforts for both the retail division of Chase Manhattan Bank and the Global Investment Bank at JPMorgan Chase.

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Talk about juxapostions: The birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the inauguration of Barack Obama. From being hosed in Selma, Alabama, to taking the oath of the Presidency.

We all applaud this progess. From a macro view, it gladens my heart. But I am an employment lawyer, and the micro view saddens me.

Why should this be? A President Obama reminds me that we too often look to who fills the top slot to guage if progress is being made. VP of Human Resources is black? Check. Operations Manager is Hispanic? Check. All is in order, right? Not really.

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A Q & A with Georgetown University’s Christopher Metzler

In a way, Christopher Metzler is responsible for diversity increasingly being taken seriously as an integral part of any organization’s business strategy. After all, while at Cornell University, he created the nation’s first certification program for diversity professionals. And as associate dean at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies — the position he currently holds — he created the country’s first master’s degree in diversity. On top of that, he’s authored many books on the subject, including The Competencies of the Chief Diversity Officers and The Construction and Rearticulation of Race in a Post-Racial America.

We asked Metzler, who is also director of the Diversity and Inclusion Practice at F&H Solutions Group, an affiliate of Ford & Harrison LLP, to respond to the notion that Barack Obama’s election will force a new definition of organizational diversity (and one less about race).

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