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NEW ORLEANS, LA – �������� announces “Katrina@20: Day of Remembrance,” a daylong event on Thursday, August 29, 2025, marking the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The collaborative event, organized by the English Department in partnership with the Jesuit Social Research Institute (JSRI) and the College of Law’s Gillis Long Poverty Law Center, will bring together members of various New Orleans communities for a day of reflection on the hurricane's lasting impacts and legacies.

The daylong program will take place in the Ignatius Chapel from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., featuring scholarly presentations, literary readings, structured panel conversations, and oral history presentations centered on community responses during the Katrina era. Additionally, Loyola University has launched , a living digital archive of stories, images, and reflections from across the extended university family.

“This Day of Remembrance creates an important space for our community to come together and reflect on how Hurricane Katrina continues to shape our city," said Tracey Watts, English Department Chair. "By bringing together diverse voices and perspectives, we hope to foster meaningful dialogue about the ongoing work of building a more equitable New Orleans."

The JSRI-sponsored panels will examine Hurricane Katrina's far-reaching effects on housing, healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. JSRI presenters include Bill Quigley, who will open the program with an overview of the storm’s impacts and aftermath, as well as Bidish Sarma and Judge Calvin Johnson, who will address criminal justice impacts following the hurricane. The English Department will host panels addressing equitable development in New Orleans' Vietnamese communities and will feature interviews with Loyola alumni who were on campus during the 2005 hurricane.

The event will showcase readings from prominent local writers, including Maurice Carlos Ruffin, CW Cannon, Karisma Price, Vanessa Saunders, Brad Richard, and E.Gross. The Loyola Library will provide visual displays of archival materials from the Katrina era, while the History Department will record presentations for posterity.

To ensure broad accessibility, the event will be livestreamed�� at https://www.youtube.com/@ChapelofSt.Ignatius. The program will pause briefly at midday to accommodate the regularly scheduled 12:30 p.m. Mass in the chapel.

The Day of Remembrance represents a collaborative effort across multiple university departments and reflects Loyola's commitment to engaging with the broader New Orleans community on issues of social justice and historical memory.��

For more information about the Day of Remembrance, contact: Tracey Watts, English Department Chair, tawatts@loyno.edu��

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Schedule:

K@20: Day of Remembrance

August 29, 2025

9 - 9:30: Hurricane Katrina: A Tragedy in Pictures (Bill Quigley)��

9:30 - 10:30: The Privatization of Public Institutions: Healthcare, Housing, and Education: Kevin McQueeney, Davida Finger, and Jesse Chanin (Annie Phoenix moderates)

10:30 - 11:30: Criminal Justice (Bidish Sarma and Judge Calvin Johnson)

11:30 - 12:20: Writers on the Storm, Part I: Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Carolyn Hembree, Karisma Price (CW Cannon moderates)

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12:30 - 1 pm: Mass��

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1:30 - 2:30: Equitable Development in NOLA's Vietnamese Communities: Lee Abbott, Tap Bui, and Minh Nguyen (Kevin Rabalais moderates)

2:30 - 3:30: Writers on the Storm, Part II: CW Cannon, Brad Richard, and Jessica Kinnison (Chloe Evans moderates)

3:30 - 4:30: Katrina at Loyola: Looking Back (Casey Dawson, Barbara Ewell, Kurt Bindewald, and David Robinson-Morris) (Sarah Allison moderates)

4:30 - 5:30: Fragile Ecologies: Vanessa Saunders, E. Gross, and ��Alyssa Anders (Tracey Watts moderates)