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Monday, January, 24, 2011

Australian Campuses, Swamped for a Week by Heavy Flooding, Prepare to Reopen

Yes, there are four Australian universities affected by the flooding in Queensland, Australia: Griffith University, CQ University, the University of Queensland, and the Queensland University of Technology. 

They seem to be coping with the damage well, and are currently motivated to let international students and their families know that things are nearly back to normal. It helped that they were in their summer term.

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Monday, December, 06, 2010

Providing the Student Services Essentials In a Time of Crisis

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This article, Essential Student Affairs Services in a Campus Crisis, in ACUHO-I's Talking Stick magazine by James E. Brunson III, Michael Stang, and Angela Dreesen, is a chapter in the new book, Enough is Enough: A Student Affairs Persepective on Preparedness and Response to a Campus Shooting, from ACPA/NASPA.

A good article/chapter, helping to make the case that student services input and preparation must be a key part of any campus crisis or emergency response plan:

Conclusion

This chapter highlights essential services needed in response to a campus crisis. Specific roles, functions, and use of staff and resources in departments and officers such as housing and dining, student activities, and international student services are defined.

Additionally, partnerships between essential services departments and other campus units and community agencies are emphasized. Of course, all student affairs departments and professionals can be integral in crisis response, but thoughtful preplanning and preparation for thees units can greatly enhance student services during a campus crisis.

The entire book can be purchased here.

 

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Friday, September, 24, 2010

University of Iowa Finds Renewal in Rebuilding Post-Floods

This link may require a Chronicle log-in after a few days.

A nice piece from Lawrence Biemiller at The Chronicle. He points out that all the campus damage donw by Katrina added up to just over $1B, but the damage to the University of Iowa from flooding was estimated at $734M - but we don't hear nearly as much about U Iowa. He finds that the disaster has given the university an opportunity to rethink its overall campus plan:

There's a silver lining, though: The flood has given the university the chance to rethink some poor decisions made decades ago. The School of Music, which was relocated from the riverbank to temporary quarters in a down-on-its-luck downtown mall, liked the location so much that it will move to a new facility bridging a major downtown street. City and university officials hope that will make the downtown livelier and attract new audiences for music-school performances. Part of the School of Art will move into a new building designed to encourage collaboration among artists in different media, who say that sharing temporary digs in a former big-box store has been unexpectedly energizing. As it has in New Orleans, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will eventually pick up much of the tab for repairs here, covering 90 percent of costs that are judged as eligible for reimbursement. Related Content Slide Show: U. of Iowa Buildings Affected by the 2008 Flood Enlarge ImageLiz Martin for The ChronicleTwo years after floods destroyed arts and music buildings at the U. of Iowa, a university band rehearses in an Iowa City church hall. Enlarge ImageLiz Martin for The ChroniclePresident Sally K. Mason walks near the U. of Iowa's 2006 Art Building West, which FEMA designated as architecturally significant, allowing money for its restoration. Enlarge ImageLiz Martin for The ChronicleCharles Swanson is executive director of Hancher Auditorium, a performing-arts center that was ruined by the floods. The replacement building will seek platinum-level LEED certification.

"There are great opportunities that have come from the disaster," President Mason says. "You grow from these things." She was told when she was hired, she says, not to expect to do a lot of building. Instead, she'll oversee high-profile construction projects—a music school, an arts building, a major auditorium, and possibly a museum—with architects who have international reputations.

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Thursday, August, 26, 2010

New Orleans Colleges 5 Years After Katrina

This is an excellent resource for emergency, disaster, mitigation and other planners when they need to project beyond physical campus damage from major catastrophes. Institutions in the New Orleans area are still recovering five years after Katrina. This Chronicle of Higher Education article by Katherine Mangan includes a clickable map showing the location of 8 of the affected campuses, along with enrollment, damage, and recovery statistics. Apparently, on most campuses you can no longer see so much physical damage, but recovery in a financial sense, in a student enrollment sense, and in regaining faculty and staff expertise is slower. 

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