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University Responds to Hurricane Katrina
Posted 9/6/2005
The University of Hartford community has come together to help meet the needs of those whose lives have been turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina.
The university is admitting six students who were displaced from their Louisiana colleges and universities, and has been assisting the family of a freshman from New Orleans. At the same time, several university departments and organizations have started collecting supplies for victims of the devastating hurricane.
Welcoming Louisiana Students
The six students who were displaced from their Louisiana colleges are being admitted to the University of Hartford as late enrollments. Provost Donna Randall has asked deans, department chairs, and faculty to accept the students into classes and help them get caught up.
One of the students who is now enrolled at the University of Hartford for the semester is Catherine Dinan of Wethersfield, a junior at Loyola University in New Orleans. Dinan is the daughter of Beverly Smith, assistant to the dean in the Barney School of Business.
Dinan managed to get out of New Orleans before the hurricane and made her way back home to Connecticut. She had to leave everything behind in her dorm room, including $600 worth of textbooks, and, like all New Orleans residents, she is grieving the loss of her city.
Helping a Family in Need
The university and The Hartt School have rallied around the family of Michelle Schultz, a Hartt freshman from New Orleans majoring in vocal performance. Michelle’s parents brought her to Hartford for orientation several days before the hurricane, and they have been stranded here ever since. The family lost their home and all of their possessions to Katrina’s fury, and they are currently staying at a Hartford-area hotel.
Mitchell Piper, chair of opera performance at The Hartt School, and Barbara Porter, coordinator for the Hartt Vocal Studies Division, have been working throughout the past week to assist the family, together with the university’s Office of Student Affairs. Piper and Porter even arranged to have Michelle’s high school age brother flown from Texas to Hartford, so that the family could be together.
A fund has been established to assist the family through Intermezzo Young Artists Development Programs. If you would like to make a donation, please make your check payable to “Intermezzo Student Relief Fund,” and send it to Mitchell Piper or Barbara Porter at The Hartt School. Donations are tax deductible, and the family will receive 100 percent of your contribution.
Campus Collection Drives
In response to Katrina’s devastation, several university departments and organizations are collecting badly needed supplies for victims along the Gulf Coast.
Collections have been started by the Center for Community Service, the Department of Mail Services, and Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. Items that are needed include bottled water, C and D batteries, toiletries and personal hygiene items, and non-perishable snacks and food items that do not have to be cooked.
Alpha Sigma Phi collected donated goods on Saturday and Sunday in the Konover parking lot. On weekdays, donations may be dropped off at the Center for Community Service, Gengras 209, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; or at Mail Services, Gengras 110, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
On behalf of the university, Mail Services will transport the donated items to the State Armory in Hartford, in support of Connecticut’s disaster relief efforts.
For more information, contact the Center for Community Service at 768.5409 or Mail Services at 768.4219.
The university is admitting six students who were displaced from their Louisiana colleges and universities, and has been assisting the family of a freshman from New Orleans. At the same time, several university departments and organizations have started collecting supplies for victims of the devastating hurricane.
Welcoming Louisiana Students
The six students who were displaced from their Louisiana colleges are being admitted to the University of Hartford as late enrollments. Provost Donna Randall has asked deans, department chairs, and faculty to accept the students into classes and help them get caught up.
One of the students who is now enrolled at the University of Hartford for the semester is Catherine Dinan of Wethersfield, a junior at Loyola University in New Orleans. Dinan is the daughter of Beverly Smith, assistant to the dean in the Barney School of Business.
Dinan managed to get out of New Orleans before the hurricane and made her way back home to Connecticut. She had to leave everything behind in her dorm room, including $600 worth of textbooks, and, like all New Orleans residents, she is grieving the loss of her city.
Helping a Family in Need
The university and The Hartt School have rallied around the family of Michelle Schultz, a Hartt freshman from New Orleans majoring in vocal performance. Michelle’s parents brought her to Hartford for orientation several days before the hurricane, and they have been stranded here ever since. The family lost their home and all of their possessions to Katrina’s fury, and they are currently staying at a Hartford-area hotel.
Mitchell Piper, chair of opera performance at The Hartt School, and Barbara Porter, coordinator for the Hartt Vocal Studies Division, have been working throughout the past week to assist the family, together with the university’s Office of Student Affairs. Piper and Porter even arranged to have Michelle’s high school age brother flown from Texas to Hartford, so that the family could be together.
A fund has been established to assist the family through Intermezzo Young Artists Development Programs. If you would like to make a donation, please make your check payable to “Intermezzo Student Relief Fund,” and send it to Mitchell Piper or Barbara Porter at The Hartt School. Donations are tax deductible, and the family will receive 100 percent of your contribution.
Campus Collection Drives
In response to Katrina’s devastation, several university departments and organizations are collecting badly needed supplies for victims along the Gulf Coast.
Collections have been started by the Center for Community Service, the Department of Mail Services, and Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. Items that are needed include bottled water, C and D batteries, toiletries and personal hygiene items, and non-perishable snacks and food items that do not have to be cooked.
Alpha Sigma Phi collected donated goods on Saturday and Sunday in the Konover parking lot. On weekdays, donations may be dropped off at the Center for Community Service, Gengras 209, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; or at Mail Services, Gengras 110, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
On behalf of the university, Mail Services will transport the donated items to the State Armory in Hartford, in support of Connecticut’s disaster relief efforts.
For more information, contact the Center for Community Service at 768.5409 or Mail Services at 768.4219.
