Distinguished Author reception for Lori Peek sponsored by CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability

Note to Reporters: A photo of Lori Peek is available with this release at news.colostate.edu.

FORT COLLINS — Meet Lori Peek, editor of Displaced: Life in the Katrina Diaspora at CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability Distinguished Author Reception, Oct. 28, 4–6 p.m., 108 Johnson Hall on the Colorado State University campus.

Hurricane Katrina forced the largest and most abrupt displacement in U.S. history. About 1.5 million people evacuated from the Gulf Coast preceding Katrina’s landfall. New Orleans, a city of 500,000, was nearly emptied of life after the hurricane and flooding.

Katrina survivors eventually scattered across all 50 states, and tens of thousands still remain displaced. Some are desperate to return to the Gulf Coast but cannot find the means. Others have chosen to make their homes elsewhere. Still others found a way to return home but were unable to stay due to the limited availability of social services, educational opportunities, health care options, and affordable housing.

The contributors to Displaced have been following the lives of Katrina evacuees since 2005. In this illuminating book, they offer the first comprehensive analysis of the experiences of the displaced.

Peek is an associate professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis (CDRA) at CSU. She also serves as associate chair of the Social Science Research Council Task Force on Katrina and Rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Peek has published widely on vulnerable populations in disaster and is the author of Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans after 9/11.

She will read from her book during the reception. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and refreshments served.

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, go to sustainability.colostate.edu

About the School of Global Environmental Sustainability
The School of Global Environmental Sustainability is at the core of a growing number of exciting sustainability initiatives in research and education at Colorado State University. SoGES serves as a hub to connect CSU’s community of scholars and practitioners interested in applying interdisciplinary perspectives to large-scale environmental, economic, and social questions not easily addressed through traditional approaches. The School was uniquely designed to reach across disciplines and colleges to forge new alliances and advance greater understanding of the challenges to achieving sustainability faced by our nation and global community. SoGES is meeting this challenge and continues to strengthen CSU’s reputation of being at the forefront of addressing the world’s sustainability issues through research, education, and outreach. www.sustainability.colostate.edu.

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