Iowa lawyer, Tulane grad gives school $3M for new department
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An Iowa attorney and Tulane University alumna has given $3 million to one of the newest departments at the private university in New Orleans.
The Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering is so new that undergraduate and graduate programs are still in the works.
“I want to do something for Tulane/Newcomb in appreciation of the excellent education I received there. The Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering fits with my interests," Charlotte Beyer Hubbell of Des Moines said in a university news release Tuesday.
She said those interests involve "the concerns I have for the future of New Orleans, namely coastal erosion, rising sea levels, a changing climate, floods and other severe weather impacts. I hope the department can communicate the urgency of these issues to decision-makers and engage the local community to participate in possible solutions.”
She gave $2 million to endow a chair and $1 million for an excellence fund.
“As we are presently in the critical phase of building out the faculty and degree programs in the department, the timing of this multi-faceted gift is ideal," said Mead Allison, professor and chair of the new department. She said the department goal is to be "a world leader in the science of understanding how climate change and human activities are affecting rivers, deltas and coastlines, and how green engineering solutions can be devised to make our coastal cities and ecosystems more resilient in the 21st century.”
The endowment will pay salary and other expenses directly associated with the chairholder’s academic work, research, travel, hiring postdoctoral students or supporting graduate students.
Half of the non-endowed fund will pay for equipment, student-linked conference attendance and...