The next dean of Temple University-Japan was expected to be announced by the start of 2008. The new year has come, but the decision hasn’t.

Now it seems the decision won’t be made before Jan. 15, if then, according to university sources.

Late in the fall semester, the two finalists for the position – vacated by a retiring Kirk Patterson (depicted left) – were on Main Campus to meet with the Philadelphia-based half of the university’s search committee, as reported by The Temple News in November.

One of the finalists, Matthew J. Wilson, (depicted below, left), 37, current chief legal counsel for TUJ, has been serving as interim dean since Patterson left TUJ on Dec. 17 and has continued offering his leadership since Patterson’s official departure Dec. 31. 

Wilson has filled the role before, so his current service can’t speak to the eventual decision, according to university spokesman Ray Betzner. 

Deflecting Wilson’s current leadership role, the branch campus’s leadership is a collaboration between the University Provost Lisa Staino-Coico and Robert Reinstein, the university’s vice president for international programs until he himself retires in May, in addition to TUJ Associate Deans, according to Stephanie Gillin, Staino-Coico’s chief of staff. 

The other finalist for Patterson’s spot is Bruce Stronach (depicted to the right), 57, president of Yokohama City University. In November, he told The Temple News that, outside of a long friendship with outgoing Dean Patterson, he has no relationship or working knowledge of TUJ. Stronach was unable to be reached for comment on these recent developments.

There was never a publicized date for the final decision, but with Patterson’s departure, an effective interim leadership by one of the two finalists doesn’t seem ideal. No query into the delay has yet been made.

The new dean should be announced by the Jan. 15 start of the TUJ spring semester, according to Gillin, Staino-Coico’s chief of staff. Staino-Coico and President Ann Weaver Hart have final say on the hire, though the search committee of 16 members, nine of whom are based in Tokyo and seven in Philadelphia, was expected to make a recommendation by early December. Their recommendation is not publicized, nor is it clear if their findings have even yet been given to the offices of the president or provost.