Yesterday it was announced that Bruce Stronach, (depicted at left) 57, former president of Yokohama City University, would be hired as the next dean of Temple University-Japan, taking over for retiring Dean Kirk Patterson.

The only other finalist was Matthew J. Wilson, 37, current chief legal counsel for TUJ. He has been a frequent acting dean when Patterson was away on leave and, most recently, in the interim between Patterson’s TUJ departure Dec. 17 and Stronach’s appointment, has alluded to his intentions to stay on at TUJ and his enthusiasm to work with Stronach.

“I am excited that Dr. Bruce Stronach has agreed to join the Temple family,” he wrote in an email to The Temple News from Tokyo. “[I] look forward to working with him in my capacities as Associate Dean and General Counsel.”

There had been some question to the delay in the decision to nominate Stronach, a friend of Patterson’s. Official comment on the timing of the announcement has not been made.