The social surge from Hurricane Katrina is still roiling.

While the catastrophic weather event swept lives and whole towns away up and down the Gulf Coast, it also breached the subject of race and racismand not just in the American South, but all across all of the country.

A West Virginia University professor is among those academics looking at the aftermath in a new scholarly work. Dr. Rachael Woldoff, an assistant professor of sociology in WVU s Division of Sociology and Anthropology, has penned a chapter toRacing the Storm: Racial Implications and Lessons Learned from Katrina(Lexington Books, 2007).

Racing the Stormcontains pieces by scholars from different disciplines who analyze the issues of race and racism surrounding Hurricane Katrina.

Woldoffs chapter,Protect or Neglect: Social Structure, Decision Making, and the Risk of Living in African American Places in the U.S,examines the role of place-related demographics as well as political decision making in disaster outcomes for people of color. Dr. Brian Gerber, assistant professor of public administration at WVU , also contributed to the chapter.

In 2005, Woldoff gave an on-campus lecture about racial inequality and the ways in which Hurricane Katrina outcomes exemplify U.S. neighborhood and housing injustices. The lecture eventually evolved into the book chapter.

WVU s divisions of Sociology and Anthropology and Public Administration are part of the School of Applied Social Sciences in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

For more information, contact Woldoff at rachael.woldoff@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-5801, ext. 3211.