UC Berkeley Web Feature

Listening to Katrina

Oct. 28: California scholars know plenty about dealing with disaster. The question is: Will they be heard this time? California Monthly asked more than a dozen top Berkeley researchers, whose expertise ranges from the law to levees, to share their thoughts.
Also: Berkeley 911: Campus professors help guide search and rescue following Hurricane Katrina

Oct. 18: Berkeley professors explore Hurricane Katrina impacts in public forum
The impacts of Hurricane Katrina, ranging from higher winter heating fuel bills to property damage and emergency response, were explored in a teach-in at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business on Oct. 14. Read about the forum

Oct. 4: Education school collects books, adopts schools to aid Katrina victims
Students, faculty and staff at the Graduate School of Education are collecting school supplies and books, including children's books and teacher curriculum texts for New Orleans students, teachers and school administrators affected by Hurrican Katrina. Read about their effort

Oct. 4: Haas School to Host Teach-In on the Impact of Hurricane Katrina
Academic experts from the Haas School of Business and the UC Berkeley campus will lead a "Teach-in on the Economic and Business Impact of Hurricane Katrina" on the Gulf Coast and on the nation on Friday, October 14. Read about the event

Oct. 3: Berkeley engineers studying levee failures in New Orleans
UC Berkeley civil engineers have arrived in New Orleans as part of an independent team of researchers investigating levee failures in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The team is funded by the National Science Foundation. Read about the project

Sept. 21: Berkeley physician treats the wounds – medical and psychological – inflicted by hurricane
Heeding the call for physician volunteers, Dr. Ameena Ahmed provided medical care and counseling at places including the New Orleans Convention Center parking lot, a makeshift clinic in a motel breakfast room, and rural churches where every pew had become a bed. But it was the victims' precarious mental health that most troubled Ahmed and prompted her to action. Read Dr. Ahmed's story

Sept. 20: Berkeley Optometry team provides vision care at Red Cross shelter
A seven-member team of Berkeley Optometry faculty, staff, and students is on a mission to provide free vision care to Hurricane Katrina victims who have been relocated to a Red Cross shelter in Monroe, a small town in north-central Louisiana. Read about their experiences

Sept. 20: Tales from the Astrodome: 'A little bit of everything'
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, UC Berkeley education professor Glynda Hull traveled to Houston to help evacuees as a Red Cross volunteer. She sent back a seven-part series of dispatches about her experiences at the Astrodome — "amazing, humbling, stressful and life-changing" — and agreed to share them with the campus through the NewsCenter. Read the first dispatch >

Sept. 12: Faculty members mobilize to aid relief effort; students and alumni offer assistance on campus
UC Berkeley faculty members are organizing their efforts to help rebuild New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, moving quickly to help the victims and emergency relief agencies and to provide insight and perspective on the disaster. In addition, student and alumni organizations have set up orientation and mentoring programs for displaced students, and campus fund-raising efforts continue to gear up, with the Katrina Emergency Fund raising more than $12,000 in just three days. Read more about these aid efforts

Sept. 12: FAQs: Berkeley's efforts to help students displaced by Hurricane Katrina
Answers to frequently asked questions about the displaced students now studying at UC Berkeley as undergraduates, graduate students or at the School of Law (Boalt Hall), including details on how they were selected and where they are being housed. Read the full FAQ

Sept. 9: Campus approves paid administrative leave for staff to help relief agencies, sets up Katrina Emergency Fund
Chancellor Birgeneau has approved the granting of paid administrative leave for staff who wish to volunteer through official Katrina relief agencies such as the American Red Cross and FEMA. (Read the campus memo on the leave policy and other efforts to assist hurricane victims.) Meanwhile, the campus has set up an emergency fund to help students temporarily studying here who were displaced by the hurricane.

Sept. 6: Berkeley opens classrooms, dorm rooms, and arms to welcome students displaced by hurricane
Tulane University sophomores James Riley (far right) and Garrett Perrin pore over the UC Berkeley General Catalog on Tuesday, seeking classes to further their studies after their hasty arrival on campus in the wake of the destruction wrought on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. Berkeley, which is hosting up to 50 undergrads whose studies were disrupted by the storm, held a special orientation session on Tuesday for the visiting scholars, who will begin classes at their new "home" as early this week.
Read more about UC Berkeley's welcome to the visiting scholars displaced by Hurricane Katrina

Sept. 3: Campus officials paving the way for students displaced by hurricane to study at Berkeley
Reflecting a heartfelt commitment by the campus administration and a personal desire by staff members to help, admissions and housing officials are working this weekend to try to find a place at UC Berkeley for some of the university students displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Read the full story

Aug. 31: Message from Chancellor Birgeneau on the devastation resulting from Hurricane Katrina
In an open letter to the UC Berkeley community, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau expressed his profound sympathy to the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and pledged then campus's assistance and expertise in recovering from the tragedy. Read the full letter