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Faculty News

Simple acts of kindness


The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina calls for a massive response unprecedented among natural disasters in the United States. But at a basic level, help is proffered from one individual human being to another.

Dr. Steven V. Mann, professor of finance, thought of his former student Fritz Koger (IMBA ’03) as the catastrophic events in New Orleans unfolded. Koger, a native of Prairieville, Louisiana (northwest of New Orleans), has been working on his Ph.D. at Tulane University. With the help of Peggy Binette in USC Media Relations and Ellen Moore at the Moore School, Mann was able to reach Koger by e-mail to offer to share office space on the USC campus, where Koger can continue work on his dissertation. Koger is considering the offer.

“Steve is well known for being an outstanding teacher and person, and his concern for Fritz and his situation is a reminder of both,” said Peggy Binette of USC’s Media Relations office, who helped Mann track down his former student.

Koger told Mann he considered riding out the hurricane in his 4th-floor apartment in New Orleans, but was convinced by his sister to get out in the “wee hours” of Sunday morning, August 28. He sought refuge with his sister and her husband in Prairieville and is grateful, despite the fallen trees and lack of electricity where they live, that his sister “has much more sense” than him.

Faculty and administrators at the Moore School, as well as across the University (see President Andrew Sorensen’s message at the USC Web site, www.sc.edu), are quietly exploring ways to help faculty and students at Tulane, other New Orleans institutions, and schools across Louisiana and Mississippi as they deal with the disaster and the indeterminate amount of time it will take for them to resume classes.

One wonders, in the coming days and weeks and months, how many times the hardships in New Orleans and the Gulf region will call for similar acts and offers of help.

—Gail Crouch