Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Lisa Staiano-Coico and Graduate School Dean Aquiles Iglesias have announced a restructuring of the Graduate School. Iglesias will step down at the end of the fall semester and return to his faculty position in the College of Health Professions.

Appointed as acting dean in September 2002 and as dean in January 2004, Iglesias, an accomplished scientist, scholar and teacher, particularly of graduate students, brought a solid background of research, teaching and service to his position. The credibility and stature of the Graduate School has advanced under his leadership.

As dean, Iglesias oversaw all graduate education within the university and brought significant change to the Graduate School. He implemented changes that raised admission standards and worked with the various schools, colleges and departments to ensure that they were adhering to the new standards. He also implemented changes that raised standards for appointment of graduate faculty. Iglesias worked tirelessly with the various schools and colleges to improve the graduate school recruitment strategies and made major efforts to attract a larger number of minority graduate students.

"We are grateful for the time and energy that Dean Iglesias has given to Temple during this critical period," Staiano-Coico said. “His leadership in the Graduate School has demonstrated a commitment to high academic standards that contributes to a broader environment at Temple and ultimately improves the academic quality of the institution.”

Iglesias plans to return to his faculty position and his research in the College of Health Professions. He is presently involved in two research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development focusing on language and literacy development of bilingual (Spanish/English) and monolingual Spanish speakers.

Staiano-Coico indicated that the development and launching of Temple’s academic strategic plan have highlighted how integrated and aligned the issues of graduate education are with undergraduate education and with the various undergraduate schools and colleges. There is a need to review and evaluate the current organizational structure based on this strategic plan.