To the Temple community: 

As you know, President Wingard recently announced the creation of a Task Force on Violence Reduction. The goal of the task force is to bring together representatives from our campuses and our community to collectively assess the many efforts already in place at Temple to address violence, consider best practices as well as innovative initiatives and make recommendations to leadership on how best to move our university forward. 

Today, we are pleased to introduce the individuals who will be driving this project. The task force will be chaired by Associate Dean Jennifer Ibrahim of the College of Public Health. She will be joined by a diverse group of faculty, staff, students, parents and members of our community who will bring with them a wealth of expertise and years of experience. The task force membership is listed below. We are very grateful to each member for giving their time and energy to support this important effort. 

For the task force, the important work starts now. We have asked the task force to examine the variety of existing efforts at Temple related to violence reduction and to make recommendations on coordinating and integrating existing efforts; identifying additional potential initiatives; and defining what role Temple should play in violence reduction in our community, our city and beyond. 

The task force is one of many efforts designed to enhance the safety of our campus and our community so that we can all live, learn and work together. We look forward to hearing the recommendations of the task force and are confident that their collective wisdom will benefit our university, our community and our city. 

Sincerely, 

Valerie Harrison 
Vice President for Public Affairs

Gregory Mandel 
Senior Vice President and Provost 

University Task Force on Violence Reduction

Chair 

• Jennifer Ibrahim, College of Public Health

Faculty 

• Quaiser Abdullah, Communication and Social Influence, Klein College of Media and Communication
• Maia Cucchiara, Teaching and Learning, College of Education and Human Development
• Caterina Roman, Criminal Justice, College of Liberal Arts
• Krista Schroeder, Nursing, College of Public Health
• Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, School of Theater, Film and Media Arts and president, Faculty Senate
• Celeste Winston, Geography and Urban Studies, College of Liberal Arts

Staff 

• Shawn Abbott, Admissions, Financial Aid and Enrollment Management
• Marla Davis Bellamy, Philadelphia Ceasefire, Lewis Katz School of Medicine 
• Scott Charles, Temple University Health System
• Olan Garrett, Student Affairs
• Charles Leone, Campus Safety Services
• Shirley Moy, Lenfest North Philadelphia Workforce Initiative

Students 

• Nash Baria, Political Science, College of Liberal Arts
• Joju Somoye, Health Professions, College of Public Health
• Bradley Smutek, History, College of Liberal Arts and president, Temple Student Government
• Gabrielle Spence, Criminal Justice, College of Liberal Arts

Parents 

• Karla Brown, parent of 2022 student
• Ken Giunta, parent of 2024 student

Community Members 

• John Athanasiadis
• Greg Bonaparte
• Jewell Williams