“Katrina: 20 Years Later,” a two-part tribute to Houston and its response to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, sets the stage for this fall’s 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 One of our series, titled “Loss, Resilience, and Houston’s Response,” will focus on how Houstonians rallied to help our neighbors from Louisiana. This panel discussion will take place at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20, in Wilhelmina Cullen Robertson Auditorium. Journalist Mia Gradney, KHOU 11 Evening News Anchor, who was personally involved in reporting on Katrina and its aftermath, will moderate the discussion. A boxed lunch will be provided after the panel discussion for all who RSVP.

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

  • Former Houston mayor Bill White.
  • UHD Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Deborah E. Bordelon, Ph.D.
  • Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesman Francisco Sanchez, Jr., who served on the Command Staff for the response, led Joint Information Center efforts, and opened the Astrodome to 200,000 storm survivors.
  • Native New Orleanian 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, whose most recent accomplishments include serving as Houston’s Chief Resilience and Recovery Officer, will present “ SHIPWRECKED: How We Go on After the Unthinkable.”

Blanchard’s SHIPWRECKED PROJECT was born in the aftermath of Katrina and the failure of the levees, when she first began chronicling the stages/states of mind that people experience in the long journey after catastrophic upheaval, “rebirthing” themselves in a new place that they may one day call home.

RSVP and join us in this tribute to the human spirit as we understand how New Orleanians—as well as people who have suffered from other disasters from around the globe—survived, recovered, and healed.