The School of Medicine was ranked the 51st best research medical school in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report. Temple’s rank was second of all medical schools in Philadelphia behind the University of Pennsylvania, which ranked fourth.
In 2012, Temple received nearly $94 million in National Institutes of Health grants, according to the university.
Check back with The Temple News Tuesday, March 26, for a full recap of the School of Medicine’s U.S. News and World Report Ranking.
Temple Student Government Student Body President David Lopez announced the final schedule for Owls on the Hill Day in Harrisburg planned for today, March 19, at Monday’s General Assembly meeting.
The group of students is scheduled to depart Main Campus at 9 a.m. today, hear from Senior Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Ken Lawrence upon arrival in Harrisburg, meet with legislatures for about two hours and return to Main Campus about 4 p.m.
Following the Owls on the Hill logistics, Director of Academic Affairs Patricia Boateng announced the creation of an academic affairs round table that will be held March 28, at 4 p.m. in Student Center Room 220.
The round table will focus on academic advising, transfer and non-traditional student experiences, the general education program and requirements for undergraduate majors.
The academic affairs round table idea stemmed from a meeting Lopez and his fellow officers had with Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Hai-Lung Dai.
At next Monday’s meeting, the candidates for the 2013 TSG elections will not only kick off their campaigns, but will also be introduced to the General Assembly.
Check temple-news.com for a full recap of yesterday’s TSG meeting.
On Sept. 10, 2011, a Twitter account named “The Tot Cart” tweeted, “A food cart. With tater tots. Just tots. Is coming. Soon. To a street corner near you. Philadelphia here we come.”
Less than two years later, the vision has come to fruition, as The Tot Cart had its grand opening in front of Speakman Hall on Saturday, March 16. The truck was scheduled to be open from 3 p.m. to midnight, but closed early at 8 p.m. due to weather conditions. Still, Julie Crist, the woman behind The Tot Truck, said she sold approximately 150 orders of tots.
“It went really well, despite the weather and students being on spring break,” Crist said. “It was a really good soft opening.”
The Tot Truck, as you might expect, serves only tots. In addition to the standard high-school cafeteria side dish, Crist’s menu offers specialty flavors, including buffalo, garlic parmesan and Indian-spiced tots. Her “drunk cheese tots,” are covered in cheese whiz, what she calls her “special cheese recipe.” Original tots cost $3 and those with toppings are $4.
Crist is a 2002 alumna of the School of Media and Communication and is employed full time by Fox School of Business as the Associate Director for the MBA program. She said she got the idea for The Tot Truck from her own experience in graduate school.
“I went to Drexel for grad school and there was a taco truck that was open from 11 p.m. to 7 in the morning and it would have students lined up in front of it,” Crist said. “I started getting the idea of doing something similar but didn’t know what to do, so I started messing with tater tot recipes.”
The truck will be open only on Saturdays from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Crist said she might take the next couple of weekends off as she waits for the weather to clear up before doing another “full blown” opening on the first weekend of April.
Crist said the process she had to go through to get her own food truck on campus took about two years. She had to buy a truck, get approved by the Department of Health, take a food safety class and acquire a permit from the Department of Licenses for a “non-permanent vending location,” in addition to a vending license.
“It’s a lot of paperwork,” Crist said.
Why do all of that work for tater tots? Crist said she wanted to appeal to the schoolboy and schoolgirl in everyone.
“Why not tater tots?” she said. “Any type of person likes tater tots, anyone from a 4-year-old kid, to a college student, to adults. People have a nostalgic thing about tater tots. They were served them in the cafeteria in elementary school. I think they’re one of those things. People of all types like them.”
“Sometimes you have to see things through the eyes of people that are students,” said James Creedon, the senior vice president for construction, facilities and operations.
Creedon got the idea after his son texted him a photo of a pool and hot tub retailer that had a giant Adirondack chair in a display. Since Creedon’s son, who isn’t a Temple student, knew Adirondack chairs were laid out throughout Main Campus he suggested that Creedon should commission the chairs and include a hashtag to make them more interactive.
“I sent the picture down to our facilities management [team, which] runs our carpentry shop, and the guys down there loved it,” Creedon said. “Next thing I know we’re up and rolling.”
The large chairs were installed on Saturday, March 16, before classes resumed and that same day people began using the hashtag. Employees of the admissions office took the first picture that appeared under #TUbigchairs.
“We were at [the men’s basketball game] on Friday night, and [my son] told me, ‘Oh, it started!’ and he showed me stuff that was coming in over Twitter,” Creedon said.
The hashtag has also yielded results on Instagram, and there is even one video posted to Vine including the hashtag.
“Temple’s student body [and faculty] has shown time and time again that it’s very engaged in social media and very vibrant,” said Hillel Hoffmann, director of university communications.
Hoffmann said the first tweet with the hashtag was from the Temple Twitter account, @TempleUniv, on March 13, which teased to the return of the chairs.
One criticism the chairs have incited on Twitter is that the university could have spent money on more productive things. One tweet from @Its_DevinBurke said, “#TUbigchairs screams poor money management.”
Creedon said the total cost of both chairs was $400. The chairs were designed to seat four people, but more than that can be supported by the structures. The chairs are seven feet high and weigh between 250 to 300 pounds, Creedon said.
