In the fall of 2005, Tulane University responded to Katrina's devastation by undertaking a significant re-envisioning of the university's mission and strategy. Tulane needed to survive financially without sacrificing the core academic strengths that have drawn so many students to them: a holistic undergraduate experience that leverages the university's advantages as a major research university; a select number of professional programs in law, medicine, business, social work, and public health and tropical medicine; a clearly defined portfolio of graduate and research programs in areas of established excellence; and their distinctiveness as an institution located in one of America's most culturally-diverse and historic cities. In this article, the author uses some of the lessons Tulane learned from Hurricane Katrina to suggest how to respond to the challenges facing higher education in these unprecedented economic times.