The Penn community has taken numerous steps to provide assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Most of the graduate and professional schools, including PennDesign, accepted applications from students who were enrolled this fall in institutions affected by Hurricane Katrina. The School of Design accepted nine students from Tulane, eight into our Architecture program and one into Historic Preservation. In addition, 110 Philadelphia-area undergraduates from such institutions were admitted to Penn for the fall semester.

The School of Design is pleased to welcome Kevin Jones, assistant professor of digital media at Tulane University, as a visiting faculty member this semester. He is teaching web design in our fine arts department.

Many of our student organizations have raised significant funds for hurricane relief efforts and many more such initiatives are planned. The graduate students in PennDesign held a fundraiser to help the victims of Katrina on September 9. The donations will go to Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crisis and brings design services to communities in need. (See www.architectureforhumanity.org ) The undergraduate fine arts students organized an art supply sale and raffle that was held on September 20. Money raised from this event is being donated to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief efforts.

This spring, the department of city planning will be offering a graduate seminar, “Planning and Rebuilding Cities after a Catastrophe.” In addition to looking at case studies throughout history, the class will track the unfolding planning and rebuilding processes in New Orleans following the devastation of Katrina, to see how the planning and rebuilding process is playing out in this highly visible setting.