As the reconstruction efforts continue in China in the wake of the Great Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008, the China Development Research Foundation, with the support of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Centre for Effective Learning Environments, organised an International Training Programme on the Post-Earthquake…

Global and local climate change has become an important topic in the last few years. Concerns regarding the impact of climate changes on ecosystems in general, resources used by humans (e.g., water, energy, crops), and the intensity and frequency of natural disasters are driving the interest. Phenology is one way researchers are studying historic…

Marguerite Shaffer, director of American Studies at Miami University, is one of a surprisingly large number of faculty members who are at odds with an academic culture that isn't hospitable to their efforts to combine a public life with a scholarly career. She is concerned about what is happening in her field and about the world her two children…

Colleges across the country are rising to the task by implementing safety programs, response strategies, and technologies intended to create a secure environment for teachers and students. Whether it is preparing and responding to a natural disaster, health emergency, or act of violence, more schools are making campus safety a top priority. At…

In the aftermath of any disaster, natural or otherwise, stories of men and women reaching out to help one another abound. Whether it's the courage and training of first responders--police officers and firefighters--that leads to the rescue of a marooned family, the expert work of doctors and nurses that saves a life on the operating table, or the…

This investigation examined psychosocial and behavioral factors involved in the course of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in youth affected by Hurricane Katrina. Participants (N = 152; 54% female; 61% Caucasian; mean age = 11.5 years) self-reported on hurricane exposure, PTSD symptoms, fear reactivity, regulatory abilities, social…

Tornados damage and destroy schools every year, but many school designers and planners continue to propose new facilities that do not incorporate storm safety techniques. They often subscribe to the "it can't happen here" idea or argue that making schools safe is too expensive. On the heels of two violent storms that damaged schools in…

More than 100 public schools in New Orleans were flooded in the hours after the hurricane struck. The roughly two dozen schools that did not fill up with water suffered wind and rain damage. It was a devastating blow to old, already battered school buildings that were among the most rundown in the country. The devastation created an unprecedented…

Natural disasters have been shown to have a substantial impact on school-age children. Consequently, schools are positioned to be a source of support while helping students resume familiar roles and routines. However, few studies have examined how schools prepare for and respond to disasters. In this study, we investigated the impact of Hurricane…

This study examined whether familiarity with the physical environment and verbal/pictorial exposure to a tsunami also inducted posttraumatic stress symptoms in adolescents. The Impact of Event Scale (IES) and Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale (PEDS) were administered to 231 subjects (130 directly exposed and 101 indirectly exposed). The directly…

In fall 2007, Tsinghua University in Beijing and the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) launched the Global Business Journalism Program at Tsinghua, one of China's most prestigious universities. The two-year master's degree program, taught entirely in English, aims to produce top-quality journalists who can analyze…

This study tested the effects of a school-based test anxiety intervention among ethnic minority youth. The study used a prospective intervention design with a sample of (N = 94) ninth graders from New Orleans exposed to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Thirty youth with elevated test anxiety completed a primarily behavioral (e.g., relaxation…

"Pre-Katrina" and "Post-Katrina" are common terms for time frames these days in New Orleans, often reminding me of the BCE/CE timeline distinctions. You hear "Pre-Katrina" and "Post-Katrina" on the news, in the paper, and in everyday conversations. Although more and more people have moved back to New…

This article discusses seven lessons learned from Katrina, suggesting that after chaos: (1) there is hope; (2) there is a strong atmosphere of indeterminacy; (3) things tend to break apart and reform in somewhat similar ways but with different values; (4) there is a desire for organization, leadership, and familiarity; (5) there is a sense of…

This article presents three situations (a community college, a technical college, and a state system) and describes the responses to substantial hurricane storm damages sustained by the physical infrastructure in each case. A disaster readiness checklist is provided. (Contains 1 table.)