Courses and Activities Related to Hurricane Katrina
Who: Frank Jordan, Associate Professor
and Chair of Biological Sciences
What: Biology Service Learning
When: Discussions: every other Friday afternoon at
3 pm and Service Learning on- site every other Saturday
Where: Ecology lab (Monroe Hall, Rm. 368)
Natural and human-induced disturbances profoundly affect biological systems. This course will involve readings, discussions, and service work focused on examining and ameliorating effects of disturbance on biological systems. During Spring 2006, our first goal is to start building collaborative relationships with health care providers, natural resource managers, zoo and aquarium curatorial staff, and other biologically relevant players in the greater NOLA community. Our second goal is to invest the bulk of our time and energy into helping these collaborators repair damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Frank Jordan, Ph.D., Chair and Associate Professor and Slayer of Fishes
Department of Biological Sciences
504.865.3829 (phone)
jordan@loyno.edu (Email)
www.loyno.edu/~jordan (web site)
Who: Loyola University Community Action Program
What: PARTY WITH A PURPOSE
When: Friday, January 13th, 3.30 p.m. - 6.30 p.m.
Where: Peace Quad
"Party with a Purpose" has been organized for the Loyola community to come together, socialize, and learn about the various exciting volunteer opportunities in the Greater New Orleans area. Representatives from various service organizations will have information tables set up in the Peace Quad. The organizations represented include, among several others, Catholic Charities, Red Cross, United Way, Volunteers of America, FEMA, the Mennonite Disaster Service, several local grassroots organizations, and several campus organizations. Food and drinks will be available, and there will be music of course!
Sr. Leyla Cerda, CSJ
University Ministry Associate Chaplain
LUCAP Advisor
6363 St. Charles Avenue, Box 143
New Orleans, LA 70118
Office 504-865-2141 Fax 504-865-2080
E-mail: lpcerda@loyno.edu
Who: Robert A. Thomas, Ph.D., Director and Loyola
Chair in Environmental Communications
What: Post-Katrina Environmental Communications
When: Tuesday and Thursday 3:30 pm to 4:45 pm
Where: Communications Room 304
This course will give students an enlightening overview of hurricane meteorology, how coastal wetlands loss has made New Orleans more vulnerable, and, in the context of basic environmental communications theory and practice, discuss how various environmental components of the issues have been handled by the media. The communication of local health issues will be a major focus. The following paragraph describes the overall nature of the course:
Presents an overview of how environmental information is expressed in mass communications and associated theory of the field. Important environmental theory and issues will be discussed. Students will use and sharpen their writing skills, learn how to evaluate scientific information, and study issues with conflicting data. Emphasis in discussion will be placed on events occurring after Hurricane Katrina in August, 2005.
Robert A. Thomas, Ph.D., Director &Loyola Chair in Environmental
Communications
Center for Environmental Communications
Loyola University Box 199
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118-6195
voice 504.865.2107 fax 504.865.3799
http://www.loyno.edu/lucec
Who: Jan Moppert, Coordinator of Graduate
and External Programs
What: Loyola Corps - Undergraduate and MBA
Business Internships
Where: Ongoing
When: Miller Room 113
The Shawn M. Donnelly Center for Nonprofit Communications, the Loyola Small Business Development Center, the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Business Administration, and the Counseling Career & Development Center have all joined forces to match our well-educated “human” resources with area businesses and agencies wanting to rebuild through one centralized system.
Whether a business or agency needs part-time employees, full-time employees, interns, class projects, and plans, they can call us, we’ll assess what their needs are, and help find solutions from Loyola's vast resources.
A small sample of ways we can help are:
- Logo Development Marketing Plans Business Plans
- Accounting Systems Databases Web Design
- Customer Service Finance Systems Financial Analyses
- Market Research Advertising Campaigns Hiring Support
- Import/Exports New Market Entry Plans much, much more
We have dedicated a graduate assistant to this project who will be responsible for all assessment and matching. The G.A. will also track all requests, follow-up, and results and write a summary of outcomes at the end of the semester.
Jan Moppert
Coordinator of Graduate and External Programs
College of Business Administration
Miller Hall, Room 304
jamopper@loyno.edu
(504) 864-7965
Who: Carmen Sunda, Director, Loyola Small Business
Development Center (SBDC)
What: Loyola Small Business Development Center
(SBDC)
When: Open through out regular business hours
and some weekend hours too
Where: Miller Hall, Room 113, Campus Box 15
The Loyola SBDC’s Response to Katrina and Current Activities
The challenges and needs of New Orleans' businesses are numerous. The Loyola SBDC is providing on-site business counseling at the FEMA/STATE/SBA disaster center on Airline Highway. Per Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission's (JEDCO) request, the Loyola SBDC director partnered with JEDCO to provide business assistance, counseling and training at the FEMA center. Currently, Loyola has two part-time, contract counselors, director/counselor and one grad assistant, and is adding more students and counselors. All resources are being directed at providing this much needed assistance for the impacted businesses. Plans are being implemented to greatly increase student involvement with these businesses including class projects, individual professional projects, internships and employment which will deliver much needed help in providing these businesses the assistance they need to rebuild. Here is a quick overview of the SBDC’s response and activities thus far:
1. Loyola SBDC was the first New Orleans SBDC to open their campus office. (other network SBDC counselors are providing on-site counseling at other business recovery locations)
2. Loyola SBDC has counseled nearly 100 businesses in the last 60-75 days. (SBDC usual annual number of businesses counseled is around 175).
3. Counseling work includes; reinventing the business, assistance with financials for SBA loans as many businesses have lost all records, developing new strategies, solutions for the challenges of insurance, assistance with government forms, strategies for expansion opportunities, relocation issues, strategies and solutions for financing cash flow while waiting for insurance and SBA loans.
4. These businesses also need assistance with cleaning and repair, employees for restarting and rebuilding the business, on-going assistance with business and marketing plans and strategies and disaster plans.
5. Students will be able to work directly with business owners, schedule class trips to recovery centers, obtain hands-on educational experiences and be active participants in the rebuilding process.
About the Loyola SBDC
The Loyola Small Business Development Center (SBDC) provides free business counseling, technical assistance and business training for owners and managers of small businesses in the Greater New Orleans area. The Loyola SBDC has been in operation for 22 years and is part of a state-wide network of SBDC’s.
The Loyola SBDC is also a Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) for SBA loans from $5,000 to $50,000. In the past 12 months more than $310,000 in loans averaging $10,000 have been approved for SBDC clients. Annual total capital formation for SBDC businesses is nearly $2 million.
- Loyola’s MBA team won first place in the first annual Business Week Case Competition in 2005.
- Loyola's MBA program was cited in 143 Best Business Programs and ranked 7th in the country for opportunities for minority students by Princeton Review in 2004.
- Loyola’s MBA program was cited as a Top Part-time MBA Program by U.S. News and World Report in 2005.
- Loyola’s MBA has been accredited continuously by the AACSB continuously since 1974.
- In 2001 Loyola’s College of Business was the first educational institution to win the Louisiana Quality Award.
- Contact me to find out how to apply for a Loyola M BA.
Jan Moppert
Coordinator of Graduate and External Programs
College of Business Administration
Miller Hall, Room 304
jamopper@loyno.edu
(504) 864-7965
Who: Dr. Betsy Weymann, Associate Professor,
Management
What: Management and Organizational Behavior,
MGT 345-001 and MGT 345- 002 - Katrina Case Project: Organizational
Response to the Katrina Crisis
When: MWF at 2:30 and MW at 3:30
Where: Information no yet available
The class will form teams, which will make visits to surviving businesses in the effected area and hold interviews with the owners and managers. From the interviews, the teams will create a report on how the businesses operated pre- and post-Katrina. The teams will understand and communicate the crises faced and the crises responses. They will analyze damages, disruption, equipment effects, human resources needs, financial effects and needs, and other effects and needs realized. Focus of the interviews will be on organizational structure and job design; communications; decision-making; motivation and rewards; leadership styles; and organizational norms of culture and climate.
From the analyses produced, student teams will write recommendations and solutions to address the problems uncovered. These will be compiled into one class document. This document may serve as the foundation for future research and academic publications.
Jan Moppert
Coordinator of Graduate and External Programs
College of Business Administration
Miller Hall, Room 304
jamopper@loyno.edu
(504) 864-7965
Who: Mark Markuly, Lydia Voigt, Ed Thornton.
What: New Dual Graduate Degree in Pastoral Theology
and Criminal Justice.
When: Ongoing
Where: N/A
The vulnerabilities of society to criminal activity in times of catastrophe became apparent in the aftermath of flooding in New Orleans. One of City College’s responses to the re-building effort of the Crescent City, which has been known for both strong religious belief and high crime rates, is to provide a new dual degree program that attempts to create a new synergy between the fields of criminal justice and theology and ministry education. It is apparently the first such dual degree in the nation, and has the possibility of creating new insights and conversations in both criminal justice and religious institutions about the nature of crime, its prevention, and a sense of restorative justice that is both compassionate and responsible.The program is inspired by the profound historical role religion has played in the development and on-going reform of the criminal justice system in Western culture, and American society’s renewed interest in spirituality. The intent of the program is to create a new breed of scholar-practitioners in the field of pastoral ministry, women and men who can marshal the support of religious communities in the complex task of preventing crime, assisting the moral and spiritual growth and development of people in prison, and helping former inmates re-enter society as law-abiding and productive citizens. At the same time, graduates of this program will be equipped to become leaders in criminal justice who can cultivate the energies of religious communities in the challenging process of building a social and political environment that emphasizes the importance of both rehabilitation and a true restorative justice.
Mark Markuly, Assistant Professor/Director, Institute for Ministry
Stallings Hall, Rm. 204
Campus Box 067,
(504) 865-2069,
MMARKULY@loyno.edu
Lydia Voigt, Ph. D., Distinguished Professor and Chairperson, Sociology
Monroe Hall, Rm. 537
Campus Box 80
(504) 865-2573
voigt@loyno.edu
William Thornton, Ph.D., Professor/Chair, Criminal Justice, City College
Stallings Hall, Rm. 124
Campus Box 055
(504) 865-2134
thornton@loyno.edu
Who: Mark Markuly, Marcel Dumestre
What: Society and Culture in Crisis: A Critical Analysis
of the Destruction and Renewal of an Urban Environment.
When: Spring II Semester
Where: Information not yet available
This is a three-credit hour course offered in the Spring II semester that is designed for adult learners who are trying to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The course will aid students in thinking critically about the complex constellation of issues involved in the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, and its radical re-altering of social relationships and an urban landscape. The course will offer an interdisciplinary perspective on the tragedy and the efforts to re-build and renew New Orleans. Students will look at the crisis from the prism of the following disciplines: religious studies/theology, health care, criminal justice, human and organizational development, ecological sciences and philosophy.
The course will have the following learning objectives:
- To help students develop a language for reflecting critically across multiple academic disciplines on a complex issue in which they have a personal investment and interest.
- To help students to understand and appreciate more deeply the structures organizing and regulating society and culture, and how those structures responded (or failed to respond) to a major crisis.
- To help students reflect critically on the interface of complex issues that will be required in re-building and renewing a devastated urban environment, especially the conflicting information disseminated by different people and organizations.
- To help students analyze ways in which individuals or groups became victims in this catastrophic situation, and explore ways to re-create social and cultural structures that minimize the vulnerability of all citizens, especially the marginalized, in the “new” New Orleans.
Mark Markuly, Assistant Professor/Director, Institute for Ministry
Stallings Hall, Rm. 204
Campus Box 067,
(504) 865-2069,
MMARKULY@loyno.edu
Marcel Dumestre, Dean and Professor of City College
Stallings Hall, Rm. 210
Campus Box 014
(504) 865-2497
Dumestre@loyno.edu
Who: Elizabeth Yost Hammer, Ph.D., Associate Professor
and Chair, Psychology
What: Psychology of Disasters (PSYC-X194-001)
When: MWF 12:30-1:20
Where: Monroe Hall, Rm. 251
A short description of your planned activities related to Katrina and our rebuilding efforts. This course focuses on the psychological experiences of disaster victims, as well as factors influencing how non-victims perceive and respond to disaster. Using social psychological and personality research, we will examine topics including stress, coping, memory, attributions, the role of the media, aggression, and helping behavior. This will be a seminar style course with much in class discussion. Students will complete two papers that will allow them to apply the material covered in this course and really see it action, and to engage them in the community that has recently experienced a disaster. They can engage by either participating in structured service learning or by working in the area. See the course website for the full calendar of topics (http://www.loyno.edu/~eyhammer/Sp06disasters.htm).
Elizabeth Hammer, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology
Monroe Hall, Rm. 439B, Campus Box 194
(504) 865-3771
eyhammer@loyno.edu
Who: George E. Capowich, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
Sociology
What: Social Research Methods - SOCI A335
Plans involve embedding Katrina-related assignments into my regular
classes as a way of using the post-Katrina environment as a context
for student work and as a way of contributing to the area's recovery.
Where: Monroe Hall Room 535
When: MWF 9:30-10:20
Social Research Methods (SOCI A335 --- MWF 9:30-10:20 in MO 535). Research groups will be involved in the following projects that will provide a report to each agency:
1. Construct a validated questionnaire and design a study for the Louisiana Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Association. The research will focus on the effects of Katrina on hospice/palliative care personnel.
2. Construct a validated questionnaire and design a study for the Louisiana Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Association. The research will focus on the effects of Katrina on the delivery and quality of hospice/palliative care services.
3. Design a pre-post study, with a validated qualitative interview protocol, for a family services program that operates out of LaPlace.
4. Design a process and impact evaluation of a newly designed Health Care for all programs for a local non-profit agency.
5. Design an impact study for a school-based anti-bullying program.
When: MWF 9:30-10:20
Who: George E. Capowich, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
Sociology
What: Social Research Methods - SOCI A335
Plans involve embedding Katrina-related assignments into my regular
classes as a way of using the post-Katrina environment as a context
for student work and as a way of contributing to the area's recovery.
Where: Monroe Hall, Room 157
When: MWF 2:30-3:20
Social Statistics (SOCI A336 --- MWF 2:30-3:20 in MO 157). Research groups will be involved in the following projects that will provide a report to each agency:
1. An analysis of recent housing data for the Housing Subcommittee of Bring BAck New Orleans.
2. An analysis of recent demographic data, including projections, for the Housing subcommittee.
The reporter is welcome to come to Methods and Statistics on Monday 1/16. I plan to discuss these assignments then with the classes.
George E. Capowich, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
Monroe Hall, Rm. 537, Campus Box 30
(504)865-2574
capowich@loyno.edu
Who: Elizabeth Goodine -- Assistant Professor, Religious
Studies
What: Religious Responses to Katrina RELS V194-001
When: MWF 11:30-12:20
Where: Bobet Hall, Rm. 214
In this course we will consider religious responses to natural disaster using hurricane Katrina as the primary example. Religious response will be examined both at the level of the individual as well as at the level of religious organization. Students will keep a journal in which they will examine their own personal response. They will conduct interviews with survivors of Katrina as well as with relief workers associated with various religious organizations. Throughout the semester, they will be encouraged to engage directly in relief work and they will design and produce a project that conveys in depth some aspect of the impact or importance of religion in the Katrina crisis.
Elizabeth Goodine, Ph.D.
Department of Religious Studies
Bobet Hall, Rm. 011, Campus Box 081
(504) 865-3943 egoodine@loyno.edu
Who: Jacqueline Woodfork, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
Department of History
What: Class: New Orleans' Oral Histories: Hurricane
Katrina Meetings
When: MW 15:30 to 16:45
Where: Bobet Hall, Room 212
Description: Students in this course will perform interviews with New Orleans-area residents about their experiences with Hurricane Katrina to help preserve the histories of individuals and families of this natural disaster. They will use the material that they have gathered in conjunction with primary materials to write term papers and produce short films. The A/V materials that they generate will be donated to the Library's Special Collections.
Jacqueline Woodfork, Ph.D.
Department of History
Bobet Hall, Rm. 011, Campus Box 191
(504) 865-2568
woodfork@loyno.edu
Who: Leslie Parr, Ph.D., Professor, Department of
Communications
What: Documentary Photography Class (CMMN A369)
When: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Where: Communications Building, Rm. 305
In this course, students will work in the tradition of the "concerned photographer," creating photo essays with the goal of raising public awareness of social issues and problems and, in some cases, contributing to the fundraising and volunteer recruiting efforts of groups dedicated to community service. In this case, the issues will concern recovery and reconstruction after Katrina. Since we haven't met yet, I can't be specific about what subjects the students will pick, but I imagine Common Ground and Habitat for Humanity will be among the groups they will choose to document. The final project will consist of written text and at least 12 photographs that will be exhibited in a group show. Copies of the projects will be given to Loyola's Special Collections department in the library and to the subjects of the documentaries. Carol Jeandron, Director of the Office of Service Learning, is speaking to my class on Jan. 17. Leslie Parr, Ph.D. Department of Communications Communications/Music Building, Rm. 306, Box 008 504 865-3649 parr@loyno.edu
Who: Mark Fernandez, Ph.D., Associate Professor of
History and Melanie McKay,Ph.D., Associate Professor of English
What: History X194 “New Orleans People and Places”
When: TTH 9:30- 10:45
What: English T125 “New Orleans Texts and Contexts
When: TTH 11 – 12:15
Where: Classes meet back-to-back in the Communications
Building, Room 302
“New Orleans People and Places” and “New Orleans Texts and Contexts” introduce students to the history, literature, and culture of New Orleans. Offered as part of a larger first-year initiative that places students in “Living Learning Communities,” these linked courses encourage interdisciplinary reflection about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Crescent City. Literary and historical readings focus on New Orleans’ geography, which makes the city uniquely vulnerable to hurricanes, floods, and the caprices of the Mississippi River; on slavery and its legacy into the 21 st century; on the class structure that has shaped the city’s social, economic, and political identity from colonial times forward. Students’ reflections on Katrina are also encouraged in a First-Year Seminar component that brings an understanding of Ignatian spirituality to bear upon course content and offers service-learning opportunities throughout the city. Other activities include tours of the flood-ravaged areas of the city, a four-part campus lecture series on New Orleans after Katrina, and collaboration with students from other Katrina-related courses. Texts include John Barry’s account of the 1927 Mississippi River flood, Rising Tide, and Valerie Martin’s celebrated novel of New Orleans slavery, Property.
Tuesday, January 17, students will discuss their responses to Katrina in Dr. Fernandez’s 9:30 class.
Mark Fernadez, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of History
Bobet Hall, Rm. 424, Campus Box 084, (504) 865-2566, mffernan@loyno.edu
Melanie McKay, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Director, Writing Across
the Curriculum
Bobet Hall, Rm. 115, Campus Box 040, (504) 865-2199, mckay@loyno.edu
Who: Andrew Curtis, Ph.D., Director of the World Health
Organization Collaborating Center for Remote Sensing and GIS for Public
Health Department of Geography and Anthropology LSU
What: Biology Research Seminar. After Katrina: Using
a Geographic Information System to Respond and Recover.
When: Tuesday March 14, 2006 12:30-1:30pm
Where: Monroe 157
Patricia L. Dorn, P.h.D.
Department of Biological Sciences
MO 307, Box 025
504.865.3672
dorn@loyno.edu
Who: Patricia Del Nero, University Library and Associate
Professor
What: Loyola University New Orleans Archives and Special
Collections Katrina Project
When: Ongoing
Where: Monroe Library/Special Collections
I would not undertake an analysis of the interviews, but I think that we need to collect the experiences so that they can be preserved as part of the "institutional memory" of Loyola as well as for potential use by future scholars. I would hope that I would be able to produce transcriptions of the interviews, but I may need help (maybe I could recruit some history students to volunteer?) in order to do so. I will at least archive my recorded interviews with a finding aid. I don't want take on too many interviews, but I would like to interview Loyola staff and administration who were on campus, as well as faculty, staff or students who were not on campus.
Collecting Activities: I plan to collect materials from faculty, staff and students.
Materials secured:
- Prof. John Biguenet writings on Katrina
- University photographer, Harold Baquet, Katrina photographs
- Prof. Jackie Woodfork Oral History class materials
- University response:
- Copy of blogs
- Copies of documents of Katrina related events
Materials in discussion:
- Crescent City Farmers Market Oral Histories
Areas of possible collection:
- Student/ class work
- Photographs from Loyola community
- Faculty writings/art work
Trish Nugent
Special Collections Librarian/Archivist
Assistant Professor
panugent@loyno.edu
ML 333A Box 198
864-7092
