Publisher Mail Merge Date Format Problem

I am having trouble with the formating of the date field once it is merged from Access to Excel to Publisher. In Access the date format is 03/14/1998 and then when it gets merged to Excel it becomes 03/14/98 0:00. The i attempt to change the date format to 03/14/1998 or 03/14/98 and then when it is merged with Publisher it becomes 1998-3-14-the year, then month then day formate.

I was not having this problem when i was merging from access to excel to publisher, but suddenly it started happening. Does anyone have any input that can help me correct this problem so that my date is the 3/14/1998 format for my merged publisher document.

thank you for your asssitance.

Jennifer