Just wanted to let you guys know I was able to meet with Dean DeNisi, some of the other Deans, faculty and graduate advisors today in Houston. The meeting, for me at least, was productive and very informative. One important thing I learned today is that President Cowen has eliminated all operating entities within the University and all policy must be approved by him and then travel back through the deans of the individual schools out to their respective constituents. I say this is important because I believe it is part of why information has been slow to get to us. President Cowen has made it very clear that no one is to release anything without his approval. While this may seem extreme, obviously we are in extreme times and he wants to ensure a consistent and correct version being released to everyone.
Issues I brought to the school’s attention focused primarily on communication with us and career services. Currently, it was has been determined that Prof Shaw has the most comprehensive list of Faculty, staff and students of the Freeman School. Dean DeNisi is going to work through Prof Shaw to get information to everyone regarding a “permanent” temporary website to release information to us. This should happen very soon. Alicia is in Memphis right now and has the ability to bring the freeman.tulane.edu page back up associated with a new ip address/server and we would then be able to access that site to get updates from the Dean. I brought up that there are now several sites that information is creeping through and that we need a central point to get the official information and not have to worry if it is rumor or not. As soon as this site is available I will post the link if you are not on Prof Shaw’s list. If you are not I strongly encourage everyone to contact her at pshaw@gmail.com to be added to the list.
Career Services is very high on their list of concerns and they are working hard to put in place a plan to address our needs in this area. One of the major issues here is that when the president eliminated all the divisions within the University, he also consolidated all operating budgets. This means that travel is difficult if not impossible, but they are doing what they can and looking for ways to be creative and get out to us as soon as possible. I can say as far as on going activity here is that Peggy Babin has been contacting recruiters and working with them to keep things moving forward and as so many people have been; they are being very flexible with her and wanting to work with us as much as possible.
I also brought up the international students because I know at at least one that had significant problems during the evacuation. Prof Hogg recommended that any international student that is having difficulties with visas or other documentation to contact the university’s information line at 866-502-7264. This line is answered Monday through Friday form 10 AM to 5 PM.
I would also recommend everyone get in contact with their advisor as soon as possible to discuss what courses you are taking this semester and where you are taking them. If you have questions about how to do this please let me know. This is not to alarm anyone that they may be doing something that will not count towards graduation, it is just so that they can keep track of your progress and better design the Spring with the faculty by knowing our needs.
On the same topic of academics, I will say this: The university and the business school are very committed to ensuring that each student graduate when he or she anticipated to graduate before Katrina struck. I don’t want to go into any detail of what was discussed because many decisions are not final, but I will say they are being very creative in looking at this and we will have an interesting spring starting in January. President Cowen and the Deans are working closely to make this happen. Again this is why it is important to communicate with your advisor as soon as possible so the school knows our needs.
Some other important steps are being taken as I type. The new server room downtown has been inspected and the servers are in good shape. The main problem right now is that there is no power for that building. Generators are being brought in and should have the system back up and running soon. This includes Student Records, which is the first priority and email, which is third I believe. So our Tulane accounts should be active soon, which will eliminate a lot of the communication issues, as they will then be able to email everyone.
The Business School buildings seem to have weathered the storm fairly well. GWH II did better than GWH I. GWH I had significant flooding in the first floor classrooms and much work will be needed before they are operational again. The water is being pumped out right now, but there is no electricity to dry them and mold has formed and even the brand new ceiling tiles will need to be replaced again. To give you an idea of how bad it was the podium in 131 was floating on its side. GWH II on the other hand suffered mostly window breaks and this was just to the outer panes of the windows. So much less time will be needed to get that building functional again. Water damage to that building was not discussed so I do not know if it was flooded or not, so lower lockers stay tuned.
I guess to close I would just like to say that like many of you I was very frustrated with the lack of communication from what seemed like the official means. Although, after this meeting I feel much better and see that everyone at the school is working very hard to not only make sure we can start in January, but organize and get us the answers and service we all desperately need and want right now. So keep checking www.freeman.tulane.com and of course www.tulane.edu for all the official information. Once I confirm the Freeman site is up I will post a link to it as well.
Take care,
Kevin