Sunday, October 25, 2020
A satellite image of Hurricane Harvey making landfall on the Texas coast on August 25, 2017. (Photo courtesy of Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch)
JULY 22, 2020 — With Texas being a prime target for hurricanes, UTSA’s Center for Cultural Sustainability is launching a two-year effort to improve the resilience of historic buildings along the state’s Gulf Coast so they can better survive severe weather events.
The National Weather Service predicts this year’s U.S. hurricane season will include a higher than average number of storms. As experts anticipate increasingly greater challenges due to climate change, coastal communities must brace for impact. But historic districts—which by their very nature can’t relocate—face unique challenges.
To address this problem, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is turning to historic houses of worship. In addition to technical solutions, the work will establish a Sacred Places Heritage Network for Disaster Resilience, providing support to sacred places listed on the National Register of Historic Places and located within the most impacted areas of Hurricane Harvey damage in 2017.
Backed by emergency supplemental funding from the Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior and the Texas Historical Commission, the research project will create connections between multiple faith-based organizations and the communities they serve, empowering them to become more resilient to large-scale disruption.
“Anticipating an increase in frequency and intensity of hurricanes, we must ackowledge that people are what make a place truly sustainable, and people are asking, ‘What can we do to better prepare?’” said William Dupont, who is director of the Center for Cultural Sustainability and holds the San Antonio Conservation Society Endowed Professorship in architecture at UTSA. “Historic places of worship are community anchors, locally supported by committed volunteers and holding collective memories, wisdom and lessons of cultural sustainability. Our project will help them attain higher resilience plus disseminate information on sustainability.”
The direct beneficiaries of the project will be historic buildings used by faith-based organizations. Working through these sacred places, the research team will ensure a greater capacity for them to provide essential social services in response to crises.
Candidates for the network include houses of worship that date to the late 19th or early 20th centuries, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are ocated in the FEMA-designated most impacted areas of Hurricane Harvey damage.
Teaming with UTSA to identify and recruit eight to 10 congregations whose buildings will serve as case studies is Philadelphia-based nonprofit Partners for Sacred Places, which aided numerous houses of worship in Galveston following Hurricane Ike in 2008.
Additionally, Houston field offices for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Institute of Architects as well as Galveston Historical Foundation and Victoria Preservation Inc. will assist in case-study selection.
Once case-study structures are chosen, UTSA experts in architecture, historic preservation, construction science and engineering will work to evaluate the structures’ vulnerabilities and recommend changes to address those vulnerabilities—increasing the buildings’ resilience and strength without losing historic character. Engineering faculty from Eastern Michigan University will assist UTSA researchers on the project.
A primary project outcome will be the development and dissemination of a “resiliency roadmap,” a toolkit designed for a nontechnical audience to guide disaster management planning and enhance the capacity of historic sacred places to prepare and recover.
UTSA and its partners hope the faith-based network will become a model for similar disaster and resiliency planning efforts across the nation.
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UTSA Main Campus will serve as a designated polling station during the early voting period, today through October 30, and on Election Day, November 3.
H-E-B Student Union Ballroom (HSU 1.104)Alumni who majored in criminology & criminal justice, demography, kinesiology, nutrition & dietetics, psychology, public administration, public health, social work and sociology—you have a new UTSA college to call home. You’re invited to get to know the new college better during HCaP Happy Hour. Each happy hour starts with a brief discussion to introduce you to the work in the featured department before opening to questions, comments and your ideas.
Virtual EventWant to add Adobe programs to your course but you aren’t sure how? Stop by Adobe Office Hours for a casual conversation on how you can implement Adobe in your classroom.
VIrtual EventGamified courses increase students’ motivation and participation and allow for the capability to reinforce knowledge and skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, persistence, and creativity. In a game-based learning environment, learners are involved in a more challenging, meaningful, empowering, and deep understanding process. Get engaged with us in a playful session about game design in Blackboard Learn.
Virtual EventJoin this informative, interactive webinar with practical tips on how to plan your charitable giving now and for the future. Michael Perkins, member of the UTSA Alumni Association and the UTSA College of Business Accounting Advisory Board, is no stranger to gift planning. As managing partner and CEO of Slattery Perkins Ramirez P.C. (“SPR”) his primary areas of focus include counseling business owners, executives, and other high net worth individuals on personal financial issues, including estate planning, wealth transfer, and income tax planning techniques. Michael also practices philanthropy himself – establishing an endowed scholarship at UTSA as well as supporting numerous charitable causes throughout San Antonio.
Virtual EventUTSA Main Campus is a voting poll for Election Day on November 3.
H-E-B Student Union Ballroom (HSU 1.104The University of Texas at San Antonio Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Showcase features undergraduate student research and creative endeavors from across the university.
VIrtual EventThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
