At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20, in the Wilhelmina Cullen Robertson Auditorium, UHD will kick off “Katrina: 20 Years Later,” a two-part tribute to Houston and its response to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, as part of this fall’s UHD President’s Lecture Series.

In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, many New Orleanians evacuated to Houston, including those shuttled to the Astrodome. Part I of “Katrina: 20 Years Later” is entitled “Loss, Resilience, and Houston’s Response” and will focus on how Houstonians rallied to help our neighbors from Louisiana. Journalist Mia Gradney, KHOU 11 Evening News Anchor who reported on Katrina and its aftermath, will moderate this panel discussion. A boxed lunch will be provided for all who RSVP.

Our panel (see bios below) will include two Houstonians, who were instrumental in Houston’s response, and two of UHD’s own, both native New Orleanians:

  • Bill White, Senior Management Advisor, who served as Houston’s mayor during Katrina.
  • UHD Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Deborah E. Bordelon, Ph.D.
  • Francisco Sanchez, Jr., Senior Advisor for Economic Development at Hagerty Consulting, who served on Harris County’s Command Staff during Katrina, led Joint Information Center efforts, and opened the Astrodome to 200,000 storm survivors.
  • Kionna Walker LeMalle, UHD Director of Executive Communications, whose novel “Behind the Waterline” captures this period of history.

Our series “Katrina: 20 Years Later” continues at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 28 in UHD’s Wilhelmina Cullen Robertson Auditorium in the Academic Building. Angela Blanchard, who most recently served as Houston’s Chief Resilience and Recovery Officer, will present “SHIPWRECKED: How We Go on After the Unthinkable.”

PANELIST BIOS

Dr. Deborah E. Bordelon, serves as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs for UHD, where she is responsible for the articulation of the university’s vision of academic distinction; the development and administration of academic programs; policies relating to instruction, curriculum, and distance learning; faculty and academic staff appointments and performance assessments; and scholarship and community service initiatives among faculty. She was recently named President of the Texas Council for Chief Academic Officers for the 2025-2026 year.

Prior to coming to UHD, she was the Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs for Columbus State University. Prior to her position with Columbus State University, Dr. Bordelon served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs for Governors State University in Illinois, following serving as that University’s Dean of the College of Education, Dean of Graduate Studies, and Professor. Dr. Bordelon’s other leadership roles include Dean of the College of Education and Professor for Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, and Division of Education Chair for Xavier University of Louisiana.

She earned a doctoral degree in Special Education, a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Literacy, and a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education—all from the University of New Orleans.

Kionna Walker LeMalle currently serves as UHD’s Director of Executive Communications. As the great-granddaughter of Houston’s Civil Rights legend Beatrice Lehman Green, LeMalle is drawn to stories both warped and shaped by the distinct American South, a region that fuels her imagination, as well as her belief in the restorative power of community. Told through the voice of an unforgettable narrator, her debut novel “Behind the Waterline,” winner of the Lee Smith Novel Prize, juxtaposes the devastation of Hurricane Katrina with the trauma of the Civil Rights era. The novel is now longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s 2025 First Novel Prize.

LeMalle’s creative work has appeared in table//FEAST, The Southern Quarterly, The First Line, Devotion in the Open Air, and UHD’s Bayou Review. She earned her MFA at Houston Christian University, M.Ed. from the University of New Orleans, and B.A. from Xavier University of Louisiana. Passionate about nurturing community among writers of all ages, LeMalle founded Writer.Teacher.Friend., a virtual writing group. She has been married to her pastor and best friend for more than twenty-eight years. Together they have four children and one granddaughter to whom she hopes to leave a legacy of story.

Francisco Sánchez Jr. is a nationally recognized leader in emergency management and economic development. As Hagerty’s Senior Advisor for Economic Development, he brings more than two decades of experience guiding disaster response, recovery, and resilience efforts across the public sector. Most recently, he was appointed to serve as Associate Administrator of the United States (US) Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience (ODR&R) by President Biden in January 2022. Under his leadership, the SBA responded to more than 1,500 disaster declarations and delivered nearly $15 billion in long-term, low-interest loans.

Previously, Sánchez served as Deputy Homeland Security and Emergency Management Coordinator for Harris County, playing a key role in the response to several of the costliest disasters in US history, including Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike, and Harvey. He also serves as an Advisory Board Member and Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs. He holds a bachelor’s degree from UH and a master’s in public administration from Sam Houston State University.

Bill White advises senior management of several firms on issues including strategy, capital allocation, and financing. For 12 years, until his retirement in December 2023, he served as chair of Lazard Houston, the hub of the energy practice of the largest global financial advisory firm. Previously he had served as Houston’s Mayor and was twice re-elected with an average vote of 88%. He also served as the Deputy Secretary of Energy of the United States. He received the prestigious John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award for his leadership in response to Hurricane Katrina and the Governing Official of the Year Award by Governing magazine. For seven years he was CEO of a large, diversified business, obtaining an 87% annualized return on its investments. He was a member of the board of four public companies, the North American Electric Reliable Council, and numerous nonprofit boards.

White is an internationally recognized energy expert who has worked in the business and on energy policy issues for 45 years. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book, “America's Fiscal Constitution: Its Triumph and Collapse.”