WSU Vancouver Honors Lectures Series to Discuss the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and Hurricane Katrina

VANCOUVER, Wash.—The Honors Program at Washington State University Vancouver will present the lecture titled “Historical Perspectives on Urban Disaster in the U.S.: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and Hurricane Katrina”, by Karen Sawislak. The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. April 4 in the Student Services Building Room 110.

“Historical Perspectives on Urban Disaster in the U.S.” is the second of a series of seminars taking place this spring titled “Disaster: Natural, Social, and Political Forces Collide.” All seminars are free and open to the public.

Sawislak, who holds a doctorate in History from Yale University and a juris doctor from the University of California, is an expert in the historical and present day social impact of disasters. She has published extensively on the famous Chicago Fire of 1871, on the September 11 attack in New York City and is currently researching on Hurricane Katrina. Sawislak is also an associate of the legal firm Lenard Carder, LLP where she specializes in labor law.

Upcoming events in the honors lecture series include:

April 6 – “The Role of Coral Reefs in the Southeast Asian Tsunami” by Brian Tissot, associate professor of Environmental Science, WSU Vancouver.

April 13 – “Acts of God, Acts of Nature, Acts of Humans: Hurricane Katrina and Other Disaster Puzzles” by Gene Rosa, professor in the WSU Department of Sociology and the Edward R. Meyer Professor of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy, Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service.

WSU Vancouver is located at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave., east of the 134th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205. WSU Vancouver offers 14 bachelor’s degrees and nine master’s degrees in more than 35 fields of study. Parking rules are enforced Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Parking is available in the blue lot for $2.00 or at parking meters.