LU to host Resilience and Recovery Summit
March 23, 2021 | by Shelly Vitanza
A group of multidisciplinary researchers from Lamar University is hosting the third annual Resilience and Recovery Summit on April 9. The virtual event features speakers from varying fields and welcomes all 
Southeast Texans to participate.
This year’s summit is themed a “Resilience and Recovery Summit: Recovering and Growing as a Community” and will focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters and catastrophic events.
“We just believe great things happen when people share information and ideas so this summit is really about getting stakeholders, decision makers, community leaders from varying facets of our community together to talk about how we’ve handled disasters in the past and how we could have done better and can do better in the future,” said Jim Mann, associate professor of sociology, social work and criminal justice, and summit organizer.
Interest points – Healthcare, Economic, Resources, Government, Education and Industry and Community Preparedness – will be represented through presentations and guest speakers including Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick, members of the healthcare community, local and national weather officials, Entergy-Texas representatives, river valley authority representatives, emergency management officials and scientists.
The purpose of the summit is to:
· gather knowledge to adapt to, withstand or more rapidly recover from a disaster or catastrophic event;
· gain an understanding of methods to improve preparedness, communication and coordination during a disaster/catastrophic event in Southeast Texas;
· explore options for disaster/catastrophic event community resources in Southeast Texas related to industry, governmental or healthcare; and,
· begin a dialogue with other stakeholders to build a resilient community in Southeast Texas.
“We’re going to cover a wide range of topics from the importance of coastal restoration to help recover from hurricanes to the importance of wearing face masks to help prevent pandemics of the future,” said Mann. “Studying the disasters of our past is the best way to prepare for those in our future, and sadly, there will be disasters in our future. But if we’ve all met and agreed on best practices going forward, we can better handle what’s to come.”
The data collected from the summit will be used to make a difference in the community and to prevent future problems that were experienced in the past. Therefore, everyone is invited to attend.
“We’ll also share new and emerging technology that will help us respond more rapidly during times of disaster,” said Mann. “One example is Geospatial technology that can very quickly provide disaster information in an emergency situation.”
The summit comprises different panels to present different subjects and research collected about it. One panel “Lessons Learned and Resources for Future Storms,” will discuss flood mitigation efforts and collaboration among varying entities to improve water drainage.
People from different disciplines will share their findings from research. For example, a team of business researchers from Lamar University will share, a financial and risk management analysis of the education sector in Southeast Texas during Hurricane Harvey to help better understand the financial resiliency and recovery of educational institutions in the area.
The summit is free. The event will run from 7:30 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.
For additional questions, contact Jim Mann, jpmann@lamar.edu.
Southeast Texans to participate. This year’s summit is themed a “Resilience and Recovery Summit: Recovering and Growing as a Community” and will focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters and catastrophic events.
“We just believe great things happen when people share information and ideas so this summit is really about getting stakeholders, decision makers, community leaders from varying facets of our community together to talk about how we’ve handled disasters in the past and how we could have done better and can do better in the future,” said Jim Mann, associate professor of sociology, social work and criminal justice, and summit organizer.
Interest points – Healthcare, Economic, Resources, Government, Education and Industry and Community Preparedness – will be represented through presentations and guest speakers including Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick, members of the healthcare community, local and national weather officials, Entergy-Texas representatives, river valley authority representatives, emergency management officials and scientists.
The purpose of the summit is to:
· gather knowledge to adapt to, withstand or more rapidly recover from a disaster or catastrophic event;
· gain an understanding of methods to improve preparedness, communication and coordination during a disaster/catastrophic event in Southeast Texas;
· explore options for disaster/catastrophic event community resources in Southeast Texas related to industry, governmental or healthcare; and,
· begin a dialogue with other stakeholders to build a resilient community in Southeast Texas.
“We’re going to cover a wide range of topics from the importance of coastal restoration to help recover from hurricanes to the importance of wearing face masks to help prevent pandemics of the future,” said Mann. “Studying the disasters of our past is the best way to prepare for those in our future, and sadly, there will be disasters in our future. But if we’ve all met and agreed on best practices going forward, we can better handle what’s to come.”
The data collected from the summit will be used to make a difference in the community and to prevent future problems that were experienced in the past. Therefore, everyone is invited to attend.
“We’ll also share new and emerging technology that will help us respond more rapidly during times of disaster,” said Mann. “One example is Geospatial technology that can very quickly provide disaster information in an emergency situation.”
The summit comprises different panels to present different subjects and research collected about it. One panel “Lessons Learned and Resources for Future Storms,” will discuss flood mitigation efforts and collaboration among varying entities to improve water drainage.
People from different disciplines will share their findings from research. For example, a team of business researchers from Lamar University will share, a financial and risk management analysis of the education sector in Southeast Texas during Hurricane Harvey to help better understand the financial resiliency and recovery of educational institutions in the area.
The summit is free. The event will run from 7:30 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.
For additional questions, contact Jim Mann, jpmann@lamar.edu.