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WPI Responds to Those Affected by Hurricane Katrina

WPI Community Comes Together to Aid Katrina Victims

Several WPI organizations and offices are working together to help the campus community support the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

• All this week, the Graduate Student Government will be holding a fundraiser in the Campus Center to help the victims of Katrina. Donations may be made to the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the Humane Society. The GSG will match all donations up to $300. Anyone wishing to help out with the GSG fundraiser may sign up at the organization's table in the Campus Center.

• Knit One, Crochet Too!, WPI's knitting and crocheting circle, will raffle off an afghan made by members of the group, with the proceeds to be donated to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. The afghan is now on display on the first floor of the Gordon Library as part of an exhibit titled "Knitting & Crocheting in the New Millennium." The exhibit, sponsored by Knit One, Crochet, Too!, looks at the history of knitting and crocheting from the 1900s to the present day. The drawing will be held at the conclusion of the exhibit on Oct. 27.

• On Sept. 13, several students groups and offices joined together to hold a fund-raising barbecue at the Reunion Plaza fountain Donations were accepted for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund during the event. In addition, tables have been set up throughout the Campus Center, near the fountain, and on the Quadrangle to accept donations and provide information about Hurricane Katrina for the remainder of this week.

• In other activities, the Newman Club, the Catholic organization on campus, recently raised funds to send to the Diocese of Biloxi, Miss., which has nearly depleted its resources helping residents of towns devastated by Katrina, and Alpha Gamma Delta sorority sponsored a recent Red Cross blood drive held in the Campus Center.

WPI to Offer Free Online Courses to Students Displaced by Hurricane Katrina

WPI will participate in the Sloan Semester, a collaboration of U.S. colleges and universities that have agreed to offer online courses to serve the learning needs of students at the community college, university, and graduate level. The courses will be made available tuition free to students displaced from Gulf Coast schools by Hurricane Katrina. The program was developed by the Sloan Consortium, an international alliance of colleges and universities dedicated to quality online education, in cooperation with the Southern Regional Education Board.

WPI's Department of Management will offer two three-credit undergraduate courses, Principles of Marketing and Management of Information Systems, which will be delivered through WPI's Advanced Distance Learning Network (ADLN). The classes, which can accommodate up to 24 students each, will begin on Oct. 10, 2005 and run until Jan. 6, 2006.

"WPI has more than two decades of experience offering high-quality courses and degree programs at a distance," notes Pennie Turgeon, director of the ADLN and WPI's Academic Technology Center. "We have built a state-of-the-art infrastructure for assisting faculty in course development, delivering courses over the Internet, and meeting the unique needs of distance students. We are excited about the opportunity to use this expertise to assist students displaced by Katrina and make it easier for them to return to their home institutions once they reopen."

For more information, visit the Sloan Semester Project or WPI's Sloan Semester page.

Local Red Cross Needs Your Help

The American Red Cross of Central Massachusetts says that more than 60 evacuees from the hardest hit areas of the Gulf Coast have approached the organization for assistance, and more than 20 families have initiated casework with Red Cross volunteers who are working around the clock to welcome the evacuees to Worcester and surrounding towns.

The local Red Cross needs your contributions, but also your time. For those anxious to offer a helping hand, but who can't travel to the Gulf Coast, volunteers are urgently needed right here in the Worcester area. Visit the American Red Cross of Central Mass. to learn more about how you can help.

Since Katrina struck, the American Red Cross has sheltered nearly two million individuals and served more than seven million meals. "With thesupport of over 74,000 Red Cross trained volunteers and staff, the American Red Cross is responding to this ever-changing crisis with solutions that will help meet the immediate needs of Hurricane Survivors," notes Nicole Valentine, spokesperson for the American Red Cross of Central Massachusetts. "We are forever grateful to our community as they haveopened their hearts and continue to offer their time and money to help our fellow Americans in their time of need."

Special Admissions Program for Students Displaced by the Hurricane

WPI has established a special admissions process that will enable students currently enrolled at colleges and universities impacted by Hurricane Katrina to enroll at WPI on a visiting or provisional basis. WPI is also planning to accommodate students who wish to take individual classes.

WPI will follow NASFAA (National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators) guidelines and admit affected students tuition free if they have already paid tuition to their home institutions. For students who have not yet paid tuition for the fall, WPI will charge the home institution's rate of tuition and remit that amount to the home institution.

WPI will alter its rules and permit displaced students to enroll starting in the second of its four academic terms, which begins Oct. 25. Students interested in exploring options for enrolling or taking individual courses should contact the Admissions Office at admissions@wpi.edu or 508-831-5286. Read the full news release on WPI's response to displaced students...

WPI Establishes Hurricane Katrina Message Board

The massive destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina has left the WPI community deeply saddened and greatly concerned for those who have been impacted – particularly members of our own extended family who may have been touched by this disaster. To help members of our community keep in touch during this difficult time, the university has established a message board they may use to let us know their own status, inquire about classmates, friends, and colleagues, or post other pertinent information or questions. Visit the message board...

A Message to the WPI Community

Dear WPI Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni:

The extent of Hurricane Katrina's destruction in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana – especially Greater New Orleans – presents sobering and heartbreaking news to us all. It will likely become the worst natural disaster to hit the United States.

While the WPI campus is out of harm's way, we are working to respond to the needs of and express our support to students with geographic ties to the states impacted by the storm, faculty and staff who have friends and loved ones in that region, students who are currently enrolled or who were to be enrolled at one of the universities that was hardest hit by the hurricane, and more than 100 WPI alumni live around the affected areas. Read the full text of WPI President Dennis D. Berkey's Sept. 1 message...