Temple officially launches the search for its next president

Temple University has selected a leadership advisory firm and appointed a committee to search for its next president, with the goal of naming a new leader next spring, the school announced Thursday.

The university has tapped Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm that led the most recent presidential searches at the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University and Loyola University Chicago to lead the search. It also has hired a second firm, The Collective Genius, to hold in-person and virtual meetings with faculty, students and other key stakeholders to get input on what skills and experience the next president should have. Those sessions are expected to begin later this month.

“This is a transformative moment for the university, and, with a team that will help center the voices of our community, key administration and stakeholders, we look forward to finding the right candidate who represents our institutional mission and can lead our great school into the future,” Mitchell L. Morgan, chair of the board of trustees, said in a message to the nearly 31,000-student university, based in North Philadelphia.

In addition, a 16-member advisory committee made up largely of trustees, but also including two members of the faculty, two deans, a student leader and an administrator, was announced to support the search and ultimately evaluate candidates and make recommendations to the full trustees board.

Among those on the committee, which will be chaired by Morgan, are Valerie Harrison, vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion; Shohreh Amini, president of the faculty senate; and deans of the medical school and college of liberal arts.

JoAnne A. Epps, former Temple provost and law school dean, has been serving as acting president following the tumultuous brief tenure and resignation of Jason Wingard last March. Epps, 72, has said she will not be a candidate for the permanent post.

» READ MORE: After a tumultuous tenure, Jason Wingard has resigned as Temple University president

Wingard stepped down after less than two years. His tenure was marked by a 42-day graduate student worker strike, dropping enrollment, the shooting death of an on-duty university police officer near campus, and criticism that he was not present enough on campus. Concerns also were voiced around the non-renewal of contracts for some nontenured faculty and vacancies in some key administrative jobs.

His resignation also came as the Temple Association of University Professionals, the faculty union, was preparing to hold a vote of no confidence in Wingard and followed a survey of 1,000 students by the Temple News, the student newspaper, that showed 92% disapproved of Wingard’s performance.

» READ MORE: JoAnne Epps, named Temple’s acting president, says she can ‘calm waters’

But some within the faculty union were concerned that it would send the wrong message to vote no confidence in Wingard, Temple’s first Black president, when he had so little time in the post and had been confronting post-pandemic problems like rising gun violence.

Wingard’s presidency wasn’t the only one in Temple’s last decade to end on a sour note. In 2016, Neil D. Theobald resigned under pressure as the board was preparing to meet and vote on his dismissal, faulting him for a $22 million deficit in the university’s financial aid budget and his dismissal of provost Hai-Lung Dai weeks earlier. Then longtime Temple employee Richard M. Englert stepped into the post for five years.

The onus now is on the university to find a new leader who can be successful.

The search will be conducted as the university negotiates a new contract with its faculty union, which in April voted no confidence in Morgan and Provost Gregory N. Mandel. Both Morgan, founder and chairman of Morgan Properties, and Mandel have maintained their leadership positions.

It also comes as the school looks to stem enrollment losses. Temple’s enrollment this fall was projected to drop from last year by about 2,800 students or 8%, to just under 31,000 undergraduates and graduate students. Since 2019, before the pandemic, enrollment has fallen more than 20%.

The last search took place during the pandemic, limiting opportunities for public engagement. In addition to hiring a new search firm this time, Morgan said the university intends to survey the community as part of the process and produce a public report following community meetings held by The Collective Genius firm.

“We’re going to spend a fair amount of time reaching out to all of the important players,” he said. “We hired a specialty firm that does nothing but facilitate that type of environment. I think we’ll have a better turnout and better community involvement than last time.”

The search committee has also changed since 2020, when some in the community complained about a lack of diversity among members.

At that time, there were two Black men and a Hispanic man among the 16-member committee, which included 13 trustees; the university then added two Black women.

This time, there are six people of color on the committee, Morgan confirmed.

Morgan said he wasn’t counting or looking at the racial or gender background of members, but rather “who would be actively involved and help me in this situation.” He said he also sought input from the faculty senate, university leaders and council of deans.

The university may add one more person to the committee, possibly someone from the Temple community, he said.

“I‘m really hoping we’re going to get it right this time,”he said. “We have to.”