Storms, politics, and the destruction of the American Gulf Coast: A Washington University faculty roundtable on what hurricane Katrina wrought

Sept. 12, 2005 -- On Wed., Sept. 14, at 4 p.m. in McMillan Cafe (Room 115) in McMillan Hall, an interdisciplinary panel of Washington University professors will hold a conversation about the meaning and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, considering some of these questions:

• How and why did public policy makers fail to protect this region better from catastrophic storms?

• What are the short- and long-term environmental issues for the Gulf region?

• Can New Orleans be rebuilt? Should it be? If so, how?

• What is the short- and long-term economic impact of this storm?

• What sort of legal problems and issues will arise from this storm?

• Are we in St. Louis just as vulnerable to a catastrophic storm or natural disaster?

Participating in the discussion are Christopher Bracey, Ph.D., associate professor of law, School of Law; Leslie Brown, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and in African and African American studies, both in Arts & Sciences; Robert Francis Dymek, Ph.D., professor of earth & planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences; Wayne Fields, Ph.D., Lynn Cooper Harvey Distinguished Professor in English and director of American culture studies in Arts & Sciences; T. R. Kidder, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences; Donald Nichols, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics in Arts & Sciences; James Herbert Williams, Ph.D., associate professor of social work, George Warren Brown School of Social Work; Carol Camp Yeakey, Ph.D., professor of education in Arts & Sciences ; and moderator John Baugh, Ph.D., Margaret Bush Wilson Professor and director of the African and African American Program, both in Arts & Sciences.

The panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by African and African American Studies, American Culture Studies, the Center for the Humanities, the Center for Joint Projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Center on Urban Research and Policy. For more information contact the Center for the Humanities, 314-935-5576.