A longtime university employee was appointed vice president and secretary to the Board of Trustees last week.

Anne Nadol has been a Temple employee since 2000 and a member of the executive office of the president for 15 years, according to a university press release.

According to the release, Michael Gebhardt, who was university counsel and secretary to the board, will remain university counsel.

“It’s a big job, but I’m looking forward to it,” Nadol said. “I know most of the trustees pretty well, so that relationship already exists.”

The BOT separated the positions of university counsel and secretary of the board because “it is a more common structure that universities use,” said Brandon Lausch, a university spokesman in an email.

“The prior arrangement was a historical holdover,” Lausch added. “The new structure is now in line with best practices in higher education.”

Former university counsel and secretary to the board George Moore consolidated the two positions 25 years ago, Nadol said.

“Both jobs are pretty big jobs to begin with. … [They were] two separate positions that happened to be held by one person,” she added. “It will help us streamline and funnel information to the board in a way that will be simpler.”

Responsibilities of the secretary of the board include overseeing the operations of the board and its committees and keeping the board informed about the university.

Ray Betzner, another university spokesman, said Nadol “knows this place really, really well.”

“Keeping the board informed and making sure their questions are answered are a big job,” he said. “Her long experience with how the university operates and the trustees will be helpful on both sides.”

Lian Parsons can be reached at lian.parsons@temple.edu or on Twitter @Lian_Parsons.

Jeff Manza, a sociology professor and former chair of the sociology department at New York University, is the last finalist to visit Main Campus in the university’s search for a new dean for the College of Liberal Arts, according to information on TUportal.

Manza—who has previously taught at Penn State and Northwestern University—studies and teaches classes based on inequality, public policy and political sociology. At Northwestern, he had served as the university’s associate director and acting director of the Institute for Policy Research.

According to TUportal, Manza is scheduled to meet with students, faculty and staff on May 2.

Steve Bohnel can be reached at steve.bohnel@temple.edu or on Twitter @Steve_Bohnel.

Richard Deeg, a political science professor and senior associate dean for Faculty and Research at Temple, is one of the four finalists in the university’s search for CLA dean, according to information on TUportal.

Deeg, who previously served as chair of the political science department from 2010-15, currently oversees faculty affairs, research promotion and strategic budget management. His primary area of research focuses on the German and European political economy.

According to TUportal, his meetings with students, faculty and staff are scheduled for April 27 and 28.

Steve Bohnel can be reached at steve.bohnel@temple.edu or on Twitter @Steve_Bohnel.

POLICE ARREST TWO FOR AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

Two Temple Police officers were assaulted in two separate incidents April 9 on the 1600 and 1700 blocks of French Street, according to university crime logs.

The first incident occurred at 12:05 a.m. outside 1601 French St. when police tried to separate two men engaging in an argument, said Charlie Leone, executive director of Campus Safety Services.

20-year-old Wallic Maull punched Officer Elijah Lewis in the face once the argument was broken up, Leone said. Maull was immediately arrested and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another and disorderly conduct, according to court records.

Almost two hours later, Leone said Temple Police responded to what “started out as a domestic” incident.

He said a 17-year-old girl threw a brick through the windshield of her ex-boyfriend’s car. When police placed her in a patrol car, she attempted to kick out its windows, he added. Officer William Egan attempted to subdue the girl, and she spit in his face, Leone said.

Leone explained that the incident was reported as an aggravated assault because bodily fluid is considered dangerous.

Neither suspect was Temple-related or had alcohol or other illegal substances, Leone said.

-Julie Christie

POSSIBLE ROBBERY AT WILLIAM PENN HIGH SCHOOL

Thirty-year-old Zachary Ducko will face a preliminary hearing today after Temple Police arrested him for stealing $10,000 worth of copper from William Penn High School over winter break, according to Temple Police.

Ducko and another suspect, Robert Lewandowski, allegedly broke into the school by cutting a hole in a fence and then accessing the high school through the lower level ramp, said Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone.

Leone said Detective Chad Harvey eventually “cracked the case” after reviewing security footage from a nearby charter school.

The video showed that two men entered the school around 2:30 a.m. on Christmas Day with their pickup truck parked alongside the building, Leone said. He added they spent about two hours inside the school removing copper.

Leone said the two men returned a week later but were stopped by Philadelphia Police for loitering.

“Detective Harvey spent hours viewing video from the charter school and working with their computer services folks pulling together the stills,” Leone said.

Philadelphia Police arrested Ducko April 5 at 12:35 a.m. before transporting him to Philadelphia Police’s 9th District Headquarters, Leone said. According to court records, Ducko was charged with burglary, criminal trespassing, conspiracy, criminal mischief, theft and receiving stolen property.

Leone said Lewandowski is still wanted.

-Julie Christie

RESTAURANT NEAR MAIN CAMPUS BRIEFLY CLOSED 

The Philadelphia Department of Health temporarily shut down the Wendy’s restaurant at 1708 N. Broad St. near the Liacouras Center after an inspection on April 13.

According to a report filed by Office of Food Protection Inspector Tanisha Robinson, the restaurant had three new and two repeat violations.

Robinson cited the restaurant for first-time violations of not being knowledgeable of Pennsylvania Food Code and having employees with “persistent sneezing, coughing, and/or [a] runny nose” as a result of excessive smoke in the preparation area due to poor ventilation.

The report said repeat violations included the women’s restroom trash can missing a lid for sanitary napkin disposal and broken ceiling tiles in the storage room.

“Due to conditions observed during the inspection … the establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department [of Public Health] to resume operations,” the report summary stated.

-Julie Christie

MAYOR JOINS NATIONWIDE EFFORT FOR LGBT RIGHTS

Mayor Jim Kenney joined 10 other mayors across the country on Saturday in a pledge against any places that pass anti-LGBT laws.

The pledge, titled Mayors Against Discrimination, is an agreement among the 10 mayors that they will not do business with North Carolina or Mississippi and will not allow public funds to be used for travel expenses to those states, CBS3 reported.

Kenney told CBS the steps these mayors in the pledge are similar to those that brought down apartheid in the 1990s.

The actual impact of the pledge on Philadelphia’s travel is unclear.

-Gillian McGoldrick

CITY EARNS $3.5 MILLION TO LOWER PRISONER COUNT

Philadelphia has received a $3.5 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation to help fund a plan to cut the city’s prison population by more than 30 percent during the next three years, the Inquirer reported.

The foundation picked Philadelphia from a pool of 191 applicants. The grant will be used in a variety of ways to try to keep nonviolent offenders out of the prison system, move those already incarcerated out of prison more quickly, and use more alternative headquarters, the Inquirer reported.

There are more than 7,000 people in the Philadelphia Prison System, according to city statistics.

The project costs $6.1 million—$2.1 million of which will be paid by the city, and $500,000 through private sources, the Inquirer reported.

-Steve Bohnel

ALUMNUS WINS PULTIZER 

An alumnus from the School of Media and Communication won his second Pulitzer Prize yesterday.

Joby Warrick, who graduated with a journalism degree in 1982, won a Pulitzer in General Nonfiction for his novel “Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS.” He visited SMC March 14 to discuss the novel.

“Black Flags” is “a deeply reported book of remarkable clarity showing how the flawed rationale for the Iraq War led to the explosive growth of the Islamic State,” according to the Pulitzer Prizes’ official website.

Warrick, a reporter for the Washington Post since 1996, previously won a Pulitzer for Public Service with two colleagues that same year for exploring hog waste pollution in North Carolina.

-Steve Bohnel

Temple has selected two candidates in its search for a new dean for the College of Liberal Arts.

Sue Roberts, professor of geography at Kentucky University, and Eric Arnesen, professor of modern american labor history, are listed on TUportal as two of four candidates that could replace former CLA dean Teresa Soufas, who resigned in January 2015 due to health issues.

Roberts has been a faculty member at Kentucky since 1991, and received her Ph.D and master’s degree in geography from Syracuse University in 1992 and 1986, respectively. Arnesen has taught at George Washington since 2009, and earned a Ph.D in history from Yale University in 1986.

Both candidates will attend scheduled meetings with students and CLA faculty members next week, according to information on TUportal. Neither could immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

The other two candidates, who have not been selected yet, are scheduled to visit Main Campus in late April and early May.

Steve Bohnel can be reached at steve.bohnel@temple.edu or on Twitter @Steve_Bohnel.

Temple Police are investigating the misuse of a police vehicle this afternoon in Center City at 23rd and Market streets.

Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said a person had picked up the unmarked Ford Explorer for its routine maintenance at Preferred Auto and had used the emergency lights inappropriately on the way to Center City, 

Media outlets had initially reported the car was stolen, but later indicated that the car was taken by a driving service that never notified the university.

“The Philadelphia Police believed the vehicle to be stolen, since the driver was not in police uniform,” Leone said.

He added the driver could face vehicle code violations because he or she was not authorized to use emergency lighting in the vehicle.

“It’s hard to say why they would use the lights, but certainly nothing official,” Leone said.

Julie Christie can be reached at julie.christie@temple.edu or on Twitter @ChristieJules.

KATZ FAMILY FILES LAWSUIT 

Drew Katz and Melissa Silver filed a wrongful-death lawsuit over the May 31, 2014 plane crash that killed their father, the former Inquirer owner and Temple trustee Lewis Katz, and six others in Bedford, Massachusetts.

The case was filed in Suffolk County Court March 16. Eight defendants are listed, including Gulfstream Aerospace Corp, the aircraft manufacturer.

The Inquirer reported the family is seeking damages of more than $250 million, but stated that the exact amount will be determined at trial.

The suit claims that negligence and “manufacturing and/or designing a defective product” are at fault for the fatal crash, the Inquirer reported.

The Boston Globe reported the complaint stated that the two pilots, James McDowell and Bauke “Mike” de Vries, failed to disengage the gust lock before takeoff. The gust lock keeps the controls in place while the plane is parked, but can cause issues when the plane takes off.

The McDowell and DeVries estates are also listed as defendants in the case.

Additionally, the Boston Globe reported that the complaint stated a Rockwell Collins Inc. pin that secured the gust lock handle was found to be “substandard.”

-Lian Parsons

COMMUNITY HOSTS ANTI-VIOLENCE RALLY 

Activists organized by Cambria Advisory Group marched through North Philadelphia on Saturday to combat the recent spike in violence in the neighborhood.

In the area around Broad and Somerset streets, there were two deaths and two shootings in three days.

During the past month alone, the neighborhood near the intersection of Broad and Somerset streets has experienced 54 violent crimes.

Last Wednesday, there were 10 people shot throughout Philadelphia, mutiple news outlets reported.

There have been 62 homicides in the city as of Monday night, the highest total at this point of the year since 2012, police statistics show.

-Jonathan Gilbert

POLICE SHOOT SUSPECT NEAR HEALTH SCIENCES CAMPUS 

A 22-year-old man was shot and critically wounded by police last Thursday, 6ABC reported.

The shooting occurred at 15th Street and Allegheny Avenue where undercover officers attempted to approach the suspect about a shooting.

The suspect initially fled from the undercover officers but after they caught up to him, he then pointed a gun at the officers.

“When officers caught up to the male, that’s when the male pulled a gun from his waistband, and pointed it at police,” said Chief Inspector Scott Small. “Officers ordered him to drop the gun. He refused.”

One of the officers fired at the suspect, hitting him in the torso and leg.

The suspect was transported to Temple University Hospital and is currently in critical  but stable condition.

Police discovered that the suspect is wanted on three warrants for fraud and absconding.

Officials will conduct an investigation, but they believe that the officer followed department protocol.

-Jonathan Gilbert

U.S.  WILL NOT RECHARGE PHYSICS PROFESSOR 

The Inquirer reports that federal espionage charges levied against a Temple physics professor last year will not be re-filed, effectively ending a legal battle with the federal government that attorney Peter Zeidenberg said had “been awful” for his client.

In May, prosecutors alleged that client, physics professor Xiaoxing Xi, sold secrets about superconductor research to individuals in China. The federal government withdrew charges in September, but indicated that they could revive the case in the future.

Xi is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Physics at Temple and worked at Pennsylvania State University since 1995 before coming to Temple in 2014.

-Joe Brandt

NEXT PHASE OF UNIVERSITY BRANDING CELEBRATES ALUMNI

The next phase of Temple’s brand campaign will be focused on Temple alumni who are innovators. The initial campaign, titled Take Charge, began in 2014 to launch Temple toward national recognition.

According to a university press release, this campaign will be shown on new advertisements that will appear on billboards, radio, TV and websites. These advertisements will include a diverse group of alumni who have contributed to ventures and solutions in the past.

Those who will be featured include a chemist who contributed to research that resulted in a HIV drug and an entrepreneur who created a jewelry line to help decrease violence against women.

The first phase of Take Charge included background of Temple and its story as an institution.

-Gillian McGoldrick

GRADUATE SCHOOLS CLIMB IN LATEST SCHOOL RANKINGS 

Multiple Temple graduate school programs have received higher rankings in U.S. News and World Report for 2017.

According to a university press release, these rankings are calculated by factors like employment rates, research activity and student-to-faculty ratios.

Beasley School of Law advanced to No. 50 in the Report’s Best Grad Schools. Tyler School of Art retained is spot within the top 15 graduate schools in the country for a fine arts ranking that is calculated every four years. Fox School of Business was also ranked among business schools, at No. 41.

Tyler School of Art had top-10 rankings for glass, painting and drawing and printmaking programs. Fox School of Business also saw rankings for its part-time MBA program at No. 16 and an information systems program ranked at No. 14.

College of Public Health, College of Engineering, School of Pharmacy, School of Social Work and Lewis Katz School of Medicine also had ranked programs in the Report by U.S. News.

Temple received its highest-ever ranking in 2016 from U.S. News, ranking No. 115 of Best Colleges.

-Gillian McGoldrick

CARVER HS STUDENT DIES 

The students at George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science mourned the loss of a classmate Wednesday afternoon.

Fifteen-year-old Jonathon Briggs died Tuesday of bacterial meningitis, a disease transmitted by close contact, 6ABC reported. The school informed students and parents they were not at risk.

6ABC reported the freshman was a member of the junior varsity basketball team, and that his coach plans to retire Briggs’ jersey, No. 44.

The high school held an informational meeting for parents Wednesday night who were concerned about the disease and wanted to learn more. That afternoon, students released balloons in memory of their classmate.

6ABC spoke to students who described Briggs as a “cool kid” who liked to joke around and have fun.

-Julie Christie