Stanford reaching out to students affected by Hurricane Harvey

The university has begun reaching out to students and other members of the campus community who might be affected by Hurricane Harvey.

“The effects of this storm in Texas are heartbreaking,” said Provost Persis Drell. “We are working to reach out to Stanford students in the affected region to provide any assistance we can. We also will be monitoring the situation closely in the coming days to see what other actions by the university could be helpful.”

Chris Griffith, associate vice provost for Student Affairs, has emailed more than 250 students whose homes are in the areas most affected by the intense storm. Zip codes were used from the 30 counties designated by the state of Texas as the most affected. Griffith’s letter to the students encourages them to reach out to university officials should they need assistance in their transition to Stanford this fall.

These students face a variety of challenges as they approach the start of classes and Student Affairs staff stands ready to respond to their individual questions and concerns.

New students are directed to contact Edith Wu, associate dean for Undergraduate Advising and Research, while upperclass students should contact Koren Bakkegard, associate dean for Residential Education. Graduate students should contact Ken Hsu, assistant vice provost and director of the Graduate Life Office.

Student Affairs will continue to monitor the path of Harvey and is prepared to reach out to additional students who may be affected by the storm in the coming days.

In the meantime, members of the university community are already lending a hand to those in need. Among those in Texas helping with disaster response is Lance Lougee, assistant fire marshal at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He is assisting the U.S. Health & Human Services Disaster Medical Assistance Team from San Diego as its communications officer.

Others from Stanford may soon be on their way. The federal government may activate the U.S. H.H.S. San Francisco Bay Area Disaster Medical Assistance Team, which includes employees of SLAC, Stanford and Stanford Health Care. The team is on 24-hour recall and is closely monitoring the situation.