Commentary: College students get down to business post-Katrina

New Orleans CityBusiness, Mar 10, 2006 by CityBusiness Editor Terry O'Connor COMMENTARY

College has changed since the mid-1980s when you needed to know coding to use computers and I had hair and four jobs working my way through.It's changed in other ways, too. Last week, I stepped into an august institution of higher learning where savory stacks of pizza boxes and chilled water awaited students and faculty.

Back when I was a college student, (when we walked uphill through 6 feet of snow both ways to attend classes,) we also had to wait until after class for the 'za. I missed a few classes then. I wouldn't miss if pizza was involved.No computer coding is required of today's students and pizza remains a primary university food group. College life has improved by a quantum leap.It's better in another, more important way as well.Now I'll never be known as Professor O'Connor but last week allowed me the opportunity to lecture at two top campuses in town. And what I learned of the students here post- Katrina - at Loyola University New Orleans and Tulane University - is greatly encouraging.Professors and administrators alike say there is a renewed sense of earnest commitment to studies in New Orleans post-Katrina. Students are applying their attentions in a way and an intensity level not seen before the storm, according to Michelle Kirtley Johnston, Loyola assistant professor of management and director of the executive mentoring program. The program is a great example of tearing down the ivy-covered barrier between college education and real life. It links students with people working to make a living, which is the most practical experience imaginable.J. Patrick O'Brien, a fine Irishman and the dean of Loyola's College of Business, said attention spans are more focused post-Katrina. Students are more serious. They know they have a key stake and will play a central role in rebuilding our city.All freshmen and sophomores at Loyola are required to take the business communications course and they did a marvelous job of listening or at least pretending to do so. A few succumbed to pizza dough stupor. I spent about an hour talking about business communication approaches and needs post-Katrina. Their questions indicate they not only get it, they're determined to improve the business climate in New Orleans.For far too long, New Orleans has paid lip service to regional economic development and cooperation while remaining Crescent City-centric. That has to change. Regionalism will be required for New Orleans to succeed in the future not just requested of its business leaders. Katrina saw to that by reducing the New Orleans business community to about half its former net number.It's a collaborative lesson these students can take into the business community when they graduate in the next three years or so during what is expected to be a boom time in New Orleans.Not that anyone was counting, but about 80 students came to hear me speak at Loyola while only 43 came to the Tulane appearance. Of course, Loyola had pizza while Tulane offered no pie and scheduled its event at the same time the New Orleans Hornets returned to town to play Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.But Tulane's event did have a major draw - coordinator Michael Depp assembled a panel involving leaders from television, print and radio for a discussion of The Post-Katrina Media Landscape in New Orleans. Depp is a commentator for National Public Radio's All Things Considered, a Reuters correspondent and adjunct instructor of journalism at University College, Tulane University.Panelists included Norman Robinson, WDSU Newschannel 6 anchorman; Dan Shea, managing editor of The Times- Picayune; Vanessa Oubre, the new general manager at WVUE Fox 8; Dave Cohen, news director for WWL 870 AM; Paul Greenberg, media arts lecturer for University College, Tulane University; and me. We were the latest installment of Perspectives on Katrina: An Interdisciplinary Series sponsored by the Tulane University Provost's Office.New Orleans' media outlets are moving into uncharted and dangerous waters, facing an uncertain population and a constricting advertising market, Depp said. They face unprecedented challenges including damaged facilities, staff shortages and a diasporic consumer base.Gee, sounds bad. And, seriously, there are enormous challenges to making media money post-Katrina. Many magazines have already folded and hundreds of media jobs have been lost, most through attrition.But in the first industrywide discussion of its kind, we all discussed how this incredibly news- rich environment is creating a Golden Age of Crescent City journalism. Students I spoke with were eager to take part despite all the challenges. For those serious about it, let's talk about internships. We offer pizza every now and then, too.