Yosipovitch discusses the science of itch on NPR's "Fresh Air"
Think itch is no big deal? Gil Yosipovitch, a world leader in itch research, understands that itch can be as debilitating as pain. "When a patient can't sleep at nighttime and wakes up scratching himself all night long, it significantly affects his capability of coping and working and enjoying life," said Yosipovitch, chair of the Department of Dermatology at Temple's School of Medicine and the founder of the International Forum for the Study of Itch. "So it starts from infancy, where you have kids who have atopic eczema. They can't sleep. Their parents can't sleep. And it also causes a vicious itch-scratch cycle."
NPR's "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" | Aug. 14, 2014

Temple breaks annual fundraising record—again
Temple raised nearly $68 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, a record for a second consecutive year. The total was up about $2 million from the previous year, said James Dicker, Temple's vice president for institutional advancement. "There's general momentum here," Dicker told the Inquirer. President Neil Theobald arrived in January 2013, and Dicker said having a new president spurs giving. In addition, the university in the last three years has ramped up its Institutional Advancement office, which includes development and alumni relations, from 75 positions to 130. "I think we'll continue to grow," he said.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Business Journal | Aug. 21, 2014

News of Temple School of Medicine HIV research finding earns global coverage
The tenacious HIV-1 virus inserts its genome permanently into its victims' DNA. Now, a Temple School of Medicine team led by Neuroscience Chair Kamel Khalili and Wenhui Hu has designed a way to snip out integrated HIV-1 genes for good. "This is one important step on the path toward a permanent cure for AIDS," said Khalili. The study marks the first successful attempt to eliminate latent HIV-1 virus from human cells. "It's an exciting discovery, but it's not yet ready to go into the clinic. It's a proof of concept that we're moving in the right direction," Khalili said. The finding by was first reported in the journal PNAS.
NBC News, Russia Today, CNTV (China), Time, Health, HealthDay, U.S. News & World Report, The Scientist, Philadelphia Inquirer, many more | July 21-Aug. 11, 2014

TV and radio capture sights and sounds of Move-In (and highlight Fly in 4)
All of the city's network TV affiliates came to campus to capture the arrival of Temple's largest freshman cohort ever. "Moving in, it's chaotic and it's fun," said freshman Kira Gensler. Freshmen are being urged to sign up for Fly in 4, Temple's new program to encourage timely graduation and reduce debt. If students meet with advisers and stay on track, said Director of Undergraduate Admissions Karin Mormando, Temple will pay for remaining courses needed to graduate after four years. "Temple works with the student to get them out in four years, hopefully we don't get a financial burden as a result of it and it's a positive for everybody," a father said.
6ABC, NBC10, CBS3, Fox29, KYW News Radio, more | Aug. 19-20, 2014

School of Medicine's Farnon shares Ebola expertise on "Today Show," ABC News, more
The Ebola virus has killed hundreds of people in West Africa, and now two American aid workers ill with Ebola have been brought to Atlanta for treatment in a tightly sealed isolation unit. The only way to control the disease's spread is to monitor infected people—and anyone they may have contacted—for symptoms, said Eileen Farnon of Temple's School of Medicine, who has worked at the Centers for Disease Control and led teams investigating past Ebola outbreaks in Africa. "You have to take people who are symptomatic out of the community so they don't continue to spread the disease," she said.
NBC's "Today Show," ABC News, Time, U.S. News & World Report, CBC (Canada), Boston Globe, Detroit Free Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, many more | Aug. 1-5, 2014

Local high school students in Temple summer program create "Gotcha" app
High school students in Temple's Urban Apps and Maps Studio, a program funded by the Knight Foundation, are developing a web app that maps small neighborhood crimes. The app allows users to post crimes that don't get much attention from police or the media. "By teaching them design, we teach the way to identify important problems to solve," said Youngjin Yoo of the Fox School of Business. It's part of Temple's larger Building Information Technology Skills summer program. "It's a thrill to see the students perform in that way after such a short period of time," said Michele Masucci, interim senior vice provost for research.
Philadelphia Daily News, KYW News Radio, Technically Philly, NBC10, Al Dia, more | Aug. 4-19, 2014

SMC Dean Boardman's comments on treatment of journalists in Ferguson featured in national media
Nearly a dozen journalists have been taken into custody and many others have been threatened while covering protests in Ferguson, Mo. The American Society of News Editors called it a "top-down effort to restrict" First Amendment rights. The society's president, Temple School of Media and Communication Dean David Boardman, said "the police have made conscious decisions to restrict information and images coming from Ferguson." Of course, Boardman added, "For every reporter they arrest, every image they block, every citizen they censor, another will still write, photograph and speak."
CNN, Fox News, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Washington Times, Huffington Post, many more | Aug. 14-19, 2014

Psychologist Newcombe discusses education research in Scientific American
Scientists are bringing new rigor to education research—but are the results getting into schools? In the past, researchers have not generally felt that it was their role to explain their work to teachers. That's changing, says psychologist Nora Newcombe, who leads Temple's Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center. "I think people are really waking up to the idea that if you take federal tax dollars, you are supposed to be sharing your knowledge." In a Pennsylvania and Arizona science curriculum study, teachers were involved in the design of the experiments. "They were more like master teachers," she said. "They taught, and they gave us feedback."
Scientific American | August 2014

Boyer Dance faculty member Lin profiled
The Kun-Yang Lin Dancers, a troupe led by Boyer College of Music and Dance faculty member Kun-Yang Lin, was one of only 60 companies selected to perform at the prestigious Tanzmesse Internationale festival in Germany. The company was invited after judges saw them dance "The Mandela Project" and said that people all over the world needed to see it. Founder and artistic director Lin, who is Taiwanese, started the group in New York, but moved it to Philadelphia and began teaching at Temple after "falling in love with the city." (A 15-minute "Positively Philadelphia" podcast about Lin and his dancers is available at the link above.)
KYW News Radio | Aug. 10, 2014

TUJ's Kyle Cleveland shares analysis of anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan on CNBC
Japan's energy debate is raging on. "There is widespread anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan," said sociologist Kyle Cleveland of Temple University, Japan Campus. This may be a challenge for pro-nuclear Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe wants to restart nuclear reactors damaged by the 2011 tsunami. Will that trigger a new public backlash? "I think it already has, particularly among activists," Cleveland said. "There are some 6,000 activists who have been very strident in their opposition to restarting the Sendai reactors." But even if there is a backlash, he said, Abe may not take public feedback seriously.
CNBC | Aug. 15, 2014

Iraqi students in Temple exchange program ponder their country's future
"As the Gaza conflict drags on, Iraq has faded from the headlines, even though the country is falling to pieces," wrote columnist Trudy Rubin. "So it was intriguing to meet a terrific group of Iraqi college students at Temple University on a State Department exchange program that introduces them to religious pluralism in America. Needless to say, I wondered whether they could apply these lessons in Iraq. The impressive five-week program run by Temple's Dialogue Institute exposed the five Iraqis—along with Lebanese, Turkish, and Egyptian peers—to a dizzying variety of religions as well as the U.S. protections for religious freedom."
Philadelphia Inquirer, CBS3 | Aug. 4, 2014

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