In a video message to the Temple community to kick off the semester, President Neil D. Theobald talks about the exceptional class that entered this fall, his excitement in teaching a freshman seminar, and the campus master planning process.

The master planning process, in particular, will have long-range implications for students, faculty, staff and the university's ongoing success.

"How do you implement change? Now, at Temple we're bringing in master planners to help us with this process, talking with faculty, to staff, students, gathering information online," he said. "We're asking: What should Temple University be doing over the next decade?"

He also explained how the new American Athletic Conference helps to promote Temple among prospective students and faculty in major regions of the country.

"The American Conference is a very good peer group for us," Theobald said. "(The conference) gives us a chance to tell our story to students elsewhere, to faculty elsewhere, to alumni who don't happen to live in the Philadelphia region. It extends our reach and allows people to know all of the great things that are going on here."