Displaced Students Relaunch Academic Careers Elsewhere. (cover story)

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Author: McGourty, CarrieRubin, Debra K.Gould, Kira L.

EDUCATION IMPACT

Amy Stein, a 21-year-old civil engineering student from Palm Harbor, Fla., looked forward to her senior year at Tulane University in New Orleans, and a future as a lawyer or Peace Corps volunteer. Hurricane Katrina has dampened those plans for now. Stein is among thousands of students at Tulane and other local universities â€" including those in civil engineering and architecture â€" that have had to flee campus, as fall semester gave way to rising floodwaters.

"I realized there was no way that Tulane would be able to salvage the semester," says Stein, who enrolled at the University of Florida, Gainesville, the next day, along with three fellow civil engineering students, David Strickland, Nathan Bowden, and Patrick McClernon.

At least seven New Orleans area colleges were flooded wholly or partially and have shut down. Only Tulane and the University of New Orleans (UNO) had engineering or architecture schools, but Katrina affected more than 700 engineering undergrads and thousands of graduate students at Tulane. It was not known how many UNO engineering students were displaced, but the school had more than 13,000 total undergrads in 2004, says U.S. News & World Report.

Holly Latter was set to start her architecture master's thesis at Tulane this year, arriving back on campus one day before she evacuated with just a few items of clothing. She now is enrolled as a visiting student at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. For other students, the situation was more dire, says Ken Fridley, civil-environmental department chair at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, a coordinator of the fast-moving industry-academic network that is finding and placing displaced students in new locations across the U.S. He says he received e-mails from UNO students who lost homes and possessions or were evacuated into out-of-state shelters where belongings were stolen and future prospects remain uncertain.

New schools are fast taking in the displaced, even with tuition issues still unclear and controversial. Many programs have waived admission requirements and costs. "It's just the right thing to do," says Warren Waggenspack, associate engineering dean at Baton Rouge-based Louisiana State University, which has taken in 100 students. LSU had added lab sections and classroom space and guaranteed that visiting students receive transferable credit. "It's been crowded, but orderly and efficient," he says.

Arizona State University will host at least 30 fifth-year Tulane architecture students and five faculty. Local architects and other firms are donating time and materials to make vacant space into new studios for the group, says Reed Kroloff, Tulane architecture department dean.

There has been some upset at already at-capacity schools such as California's public university system, but others are embracing engineering students, whose numbers are dwindling. "We feel an obligation to help however we can," says Jean Landa Pytel, assistant dean at Penn State University's College of Engineering.

But despite the quick response, some engineering students worry whether they will graduate on time. "There's no way to check Tulane online to get the syllabus and course descriptions because there's nothing running," says Alex Maller, a Texas-born chemical engineering junior, who will attend his home state school in Austin.

Others worry about the fate of financial aid. Many engineering students at high-cost Tulane are on 40 to 50% scholarship, says Vijay Gopu, head of its civil engineering department. But he does not expect major disruptions in financial arrangements. Gopu adds that faculty still will be paid and many are accepting new research and teaching positions elsewhere. He will remain in the area to prepare for the expected return of students in the spring since the campus was not flooded seriously. "But we are hostage to what is happening around the city," says Gopu. He says Tulane must alert students by November on the school's 2006 status.

Some engineering students want to return and apply their skills to the cleanup. Stein will put her law school plans on hold. Says LSU's Waggenspack: "Engineers are supposed to be adaptable."

PHOTO (COLOR): Relocated. Tulane University civil engineering seniors (from left) Strickland, Bowden, Stein and McClernon now study in Gainesville, Fla.

PHOTO (COLOR): Closed. Portions of Tulane campus flooded.

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By Carrie McGourty

WITH Debra K. Rubin and Kira L. Gould