Date: October 28, 2005
Contact: Eric Matanyi
Phone: (708) 534-4044
Fax: (708) 534-8399
Email: e-matanyi@govst.edu
For Immediate Release
University Park, Illinois, October 28, 2005 – The College of Business and Public Administration at Governors State University will host a presentation and forum entitled “New Orleans – The City. The Event. The Lessons. The Future.,” on Wednesday, November 16, from 3:30 – 5 p.m.
The event will be held in the Sherman Hall, at the University’s main campus, located at 1 University Parkway, University Park, Illinois. The forum is open to the public and is being presented free of charge.
The program will feature several guest speakers who will discuss the lessons learned in New Orleans as well as how area emergency management officials are prepared to handle emergencies here in Illinois.
The speakers include Sandra Gunner, President of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce; Kevin Phillips, Director, Emergency Management Agency, Cook County Sheriff’s Department; Ronald Carlson, Regional Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency; and Harold Damron, Jr., Chief Deputy Director of the Will County Emergency Management Agency. Frank Shuftan, Executive Editor of The Daily Southtown and The Star, will serve as moderator.
In addition to her role as the President of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, Sandra Gunner is also a visiting professor with the College of Business and Public Administration. “Sandra is helping to broaden the horizons of our faculty and students,” said William Nowlin, Dean of the College of Business and Public Administration. “She is able to provide us with a different viewpoint – culturally and academically.”
“It is important to use the emergency management response to the recent devastation of New Orleans as a learning experience,” Nowlin said. “As a major U.S. metropolitan area, Chicagoland needs to reassess its preparedness for a major disaster.”
Mike Waters, Publisher of The Daily Southtown and The Star, said, “We can’t afford to forget Katrina, nor think that such a disaster can’t happen in the south suburbs. The fact is, it can."
The forum will help raise public awareness of the complicated issues involved in emergency planning and provide a platform for officials to describe the plans they have put in place.
Following the speaker presentations, attendees will be asked to join in the discussion and give feedback on emergency management issues facing the Chicago southland. Attendees can also pose questions to the presenters.
This event is co-sponsored by Governors State University and the Daily Southtown and Star Newspapers.
For more information, call 708-534-4044, e-mail publicaffairs@govst.edu, or visit www.govst.edu/neworleans .
