Dear members of the Temple community,

We are writing to share a brief update about the search for Temple’s next president and, as members of the search advisory committee, some additional context about the process. As non-trustee members of the committee, we take our responsibility very seriously, and we have devoted considerable time and energy to the search.

Over the past several weeks, the committee has conducted multiple interviews with a diverse and impressive slate of applicants who have all had one thing in common: They were all drawn to Temple’s mission and our reputation for providing access to excellence. At this point, the committee has unanimously narrowed the pool to a very small group of highly qualified individuals. We continue to thoroughly vet our remaining candidates, and as of this update, we are still on track to announce Temple’s 15th president this spring.

As was stated at the beginning of the search, and has been reiterated in updates along the way, confidentiality is critical to our success in securing the next leader for our university. We were advised by our search firm and heard directly from candidates that a breach of confidentiality would lead to withdrawals and potentially spoil the process. While this may be frustrating for some, we believe that confidentiality is necessary to get the best result for Temple.

This search started in earnest in the fall by gathering community input through in-person and virtual listening sessions and a survey, and reflecting that input back through the report from The Collective Genius. Using that guidance, a position specification was developed to guide the work of the committee. The 17-member committee—composed of more representatives of important university constituencies and fewer trustees than in prior searches—has had numerous thoughtful and engaged conversations about the perspectives of deans, faculty, students, staff and the community.

The role of the search advisory committee is to do the heavy lifting of applicant review, multiple rounds of interviews and candidate evaluation. Temple’s Board of Trustees will receive a recommendation from the committee, and ultimately vote on the appointment of our next president. We are confident our input has been integrated into and is an important part of the evaluation process.

Because of our faith in the process, we know that the final candidate identified by the committee will build on Temple’s legacy and help us further realize our essential mission of supporting students. We believe you will agree.

You can continue to find search updates at president.temple.edu/search.

Sincerely,

Quaiser Abdullah
Assistant Professor of Instruction, Lew Klein College of Media and Communication
 

Shohreh Amini
President, Faculty Senate
Professor, College of Science and Technology

Richard Deeg
Dean, College of Liberal Arts
Professor of Political Science

Amy Goldberg
Marjorie Joy Katz Dean, Lewis Katz School of Medicine
George S. Peters, MD and Louise C. Peters Chair and Professor, Surgery

Valerie Harrison
Vice President for DEI and Community Impact

Rohan Khadka
President, Temple Student Government
Junior, College of Education and Human Development