my $depts = $dbh->selectcol_arrayref(qq{SELECT DISTINCT dept FROM depts})
    or die "can't get dept values\n";
my $categories = $dbh->selectcol_arrayref(qq{SELECT DISTINCT category FROM categories})
    or die "can't get category values\n";
my $genders = $dbh->selectcol_arrayref(qq{SELECT DISTINCT gender FROM person})
    or die "can't get gender values\n";

my @values = ( $depts, $categories, $genders );