On Jan. 21, only his second day in office, Gov. Tom Wolf recalled more than two dozen of former Gov. Tom Corbett’s eleventh-hour appointments, including Jim Cawley, the former lieutenant governor who served on Temple’s Board of Trustees as an ex-officio member during Corbett’s term.

“Prior to being sworn-in as governor, my predecessor put forth several eleventh hour executive nominations,” Wolf said in a statement provided by his Press Secretary Jeff Sheridan. “These moves were murky and the process was anything but open and transparent.”

“We must work to make sure every Pennsylvanian has good reason to trust the government that serves them, and these are the types of actions that make people legitimately distrust their government,” Wolf added in the statement.

The move has already upset Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman.

“The honeymoon is over,” Corman told the Inquirer. “[Wolf] is not off to a flying start, for someone who said he was going to do things differently.”

Temple offered a short statement on the appointment: “The process for the appointment of Commonwealth trustees to Temple’s board is handled by the Governor and the General Assembly,” a spokesman said in an email.

Cawley, a Bucks County native who received Temple degrees in political science and law, now serves as head of United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Temple trustee Lon Greenberg serves as chair of the regional United Way’s Board of Directors, and trustee J. William Mills, formerly a regional president of PNC Bank, serves as a regular member of the board.

Cawley could not be reached after multiple requests for comment on the Temple appointment. He told the Inquirer that his “whole career has been about public service and has been about improving the quality of life for the people who were in whatever community that I was part of. I see this role as continuing that.”

Greenberg told the Inquirer that Cawley’s experience in state government could be beneficial for the charity.

“As Lieutenant Governor, he also has a unique understanding of how United Way’s impact areas connect, and how strategic improvements in education, income, and health can lift the entire region,” Greenberg said.

Cawley served on the board twice as a governor’s non-voting representative – once under Mark Schweiker and again under Corbett. He told The Temple News in an interview before the 2014 elections that he would appreciate a future at the university.

“I am happy and honored to to serve Temple University in any way that I can,” Cawley said. “If there’s an opportunity [in the long-term] future … I would jump at the chance at any time.”

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.

Steve Bohnel contributed reporting.

OLD TUCC BOOKSTORE TO CLOSE

The bookstore located on the third floor of Temple’s Center City Campus on 15th and Market streets will permanently close at 4 p.m. on Feb. 6 in anticipation of the opening of a new bookstore.

William Parshall, executive director of Temple’s Ambler and Center City campuses, wrote in an email that a new café and Barnes and Noble bookstore is expected to open on the ground floor on March 2.

Parshall added that the three-week transition period is needed for moving inventory, products and security and computer systems from the third floor to the ground level.

Students who need to purchase books during the transition period should contact the Main Campus bookstore at 215-204-5578 or by email at sm693@bncollege.com. Books can be ordered and picked up at the Main Campus location or shipped to a home address at a standard shipping speed for free. Orders can also be placed online and picked up at the new TUCC bookstore location once it opens.

Parshall wrote that students looking to buy school supplies should shop at the Staples located on 15th and Chestnut streets, and that snacks and beverages are still available in vending machines located on the second, third, fourth and fifth floors in the Center City building.

The Inquirer reported in December that Accesso Partners LLC, a real estate firm located in Florida, bought the property that includes TUCC for $85 million. The previous owner of the 502,000 sq. ft. building was Winthrop Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust based in New York and Boston.

-Steve Bohnel

NONPROFIT TRAINING OFFERED

Two international Temple campuses have joined efforts to start a nonprofit training program.

Temple’s Harrisburg and Japan campuses started offering the International Nonprofit  Training and Leadership Program on Jan. 30, according to a university press release.

According to the program’s website, six courses are taught by instructors who have experience working in the nonprofit sector in not just the United States, but also worldwide. The classes are offered on a completely online platform via WebEx, a web conferencing site.

Two of the six courses are in collaboration with Temple University Japan, while the remaining are created for audiences from the United States.

Eugenia Medrano, director of continuing education at Temple University Japan, said in the press release that the program should be effective for students looking to break into the nonprofit sector.

“Students will gain exposure to diverse concepts and ideas and will have a tool kit to immediately apply what they have learned at their places of employment,” Medrano said. “The scope of the nonprofit sector continues to grow internationally – more and more nonprofit organizations and businesses are working together locally, nationally and globally to provide the best possible service to their clients.”

The program is scheduled to run through December 2015.

-Steve Bohnel

NEW SCHOLARSHIP FOR ‘FLY IN 4’

A member of the Board of Trustees recently created a scholarship fund in collaboration with the university’s ‘Fly in 4’ Program.

According to a university press release, Alan M. Cohen, executive vice president and global head of compliance at Goldman Sachs, created The Alan and Deborah Cohen Goldman Sachs Scholarship Fund because of a recommendation by Goldman Sachs Gives, a donor-advised fund where current senior employees can suggest grants to qualified non-profit organizations.

The scholarship, named after Cohen and his wife, Deborah Cohen, is worth $350,000. Both contributed funding, and Deborah said in the release that she and her husband wanted to give back because they were fortunate enough to attend college themselves.

“Both of us were in the first generation of our families to attend college, and that was largely because Temple was so affordable,” Cohen said. “We feel like we were given a huge gift to get a high-quality education and pursue our dreams, so this is our way of giving back.”

The first two recipients of the award are freshmen Melanie Tucci and Brianna Seay, who are both from Philadelphia. Tucci and Seay are majoring in international business and psychology, respectively.

Alan Cohen was elected to the Board of Trustees in May 2014, The Temple News reported. His term started May 13 and is scheduled to end Oct. 10, 2017.

-Steve Bohnel

RECORD YEAR IN ATHLETIC GIFTS

Last year, donations to major college athletic programs totaled $1.26 billion dollars, the third time in the last four years that institutions have eclipsed the billion-dollar mark, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

The figure was calculated through a “Voluntary Support of Education” survey from the Council for Aid to Education, which is the first organization to offer statistics on private individuals donating to higher education, according to its website.

Almost 400 colleges provided information about athletic donations for the survey, and last year was the highest mark the donation total has reached in the survey during the past decade.

 Leading the way in athletic donations was Texas A&M University, whose $93.6 million total almost doubled any other college that was included in the survey. The University of Michigan was in second, tallying $54.6 million.

Greg Byrne, vice president for athletics at the University of Arizona, said that donations will be needed more in the future due to decreasing funding from state budgets.

“A lot of the facilities we compete in were built with state dollars, and that will rarely happen anymore,” Byrne told the Chronicle. “Many of us have had to look ourselves in the mirror as our infrastructure has needed replacing, and realize that philanthropic gifts are going to be the only way to solve that issue.”

The record year represents a huge increase in athletic donations – according to figures the Council for Aid to Education provided to the Chronicle, athletic departments brought in approximately twice as much money from them last year than in 2004.

-Steve Bohnel

DIVERSITY CENTER SET TO OPEN

“The Burrow” – a space that will be home to Temple Student Government’s TUnity statement and where students can learn more about diversity – is set to have a soft opening next month.

Located at 2024-2028 N. Broad St., the furnished multi-room facility will offer a kitchen space, equipped with a coffee maker and refrigerator. It will offer plenty of seating, conference tables, rooms to work in, and a security desk. The huge outdoor area features a gazebo and plenty of trees.

Rhonda Brown, Temple’s associate vice president of the office of institutional diversity, equality, advocacy and leadership, said the space was needed in order for students to openly talk about tough topics concerning diversity.

“There has to be a place where people can have hard conversations,” Brown said.

Brown added that “The Burrow” was chosen as the name for the location because of Temple’s mascot.

“A burrow officially is an underground owl’s nest. Because we service [Temple] Owls, [the name] made sense,” she said.

Carmen Phelps, director of student engagement, said she expects the space to bring the diverse student body together.

“I’d really like to see it used as a place where students can do coalition building, work together, and collaborate,” Phelps said. “The point is for it to be a multifunctional space. We want to be able to measure the impact that all the programming will have on student development.”

Brown and Phelps said they hope to see President Theobald and the Board of Trustees among others at the official opening of the space, which will take place sometime after Spring Break.

-Sequoia Hall

STUDENTS REELING FROM FIRE

An electrical fire burned through 1534 N. 18th St., an off-campus apartment that housed several students, on the night of Jan. 16.

Evan Mallon, a senior visual art major with a concentration in illustration, found out via a voicemail from his roommate that his apartment sustained damage.

The three-floor building was drowned with smoke. The stairs were destroyed and windows were blown out.

Mallon and his roommate live on the second floor in the rear of the apartment. The fire has not affected his living space, unlike some of the other floors.

“You can’t really get in there as far as I can tell,” Mallon said. “I called the landlord’s daughter and she’s letting me in to go get stuff because I didn’t know I was going to be out of my house and home for a while.”

“I guess mine is one of the only habitable ones so far,” he added.

Michael McKelvey, a sophomore political science and environmental studies double major, said he was home taking a nap when the fire alarm woke him around 5 p.m.

 “When I woke up there was fire coming out of the electrical sockets near the washer and dryer,” McKelvey said. “There was a lot of smoke coming out of the basement in the boiler room. We opened the door and there were some boxes that were on fire.”

McKelvey added that the fire department arrived minutes later.

The apartment’s landlord, who is currently not living in the United States, has been unavailable for the tenants to communicate with since the fire.

Because McKelvey said he doesn’t know how safe the house is, he and his three roommates have been in the process of finding a new living space.

 “It’s pretty unsettling. I just don’t know how safe the house was,” he said. “There wasn’t a fire escape for the people upstairs and the stairs burned down. That’s kind of terrifying.”

-Emily Rolen

BOT APPROVES NEW DEPARTMENT

In public meetings on Thursday, Jan. 22, three committees of Temple’s Board of Trustees – Academic Affairs, Budget and Finance and Executive – announced and approved the creation of a new Department of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery in the School of Medicine.

The new department will consolidate three pre-existing sections in the Temple Lung Center and create three new sections – one for Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, one for Thoracic Surgery, and one for Lung Transplants. Thirty doctors at Temple Hospital will be transferred to the new department, five of whom will also be receiving tenure.

The Board also approved a $25.8 million allocation to the creation of the new department.

“This will consolidate all of the doctors under one roof,” said Dr. Larry Kaiser, CEO of Temple’s Health System and dean of the Medical School. “It’s an advantage to have the [lung] surgeons and the transplant [doctors] all in one place.”

Dr. Kaiser cited the growth of the lung transplant program at Temple as the reason for the creation of the new department, and stated that the new department would also make treatment more efficient for patients.

“Patients just want to get their lung disease treated,” he said. “They don’t want to see multiple doctors in multiple places.”

-Christian Matozzo

CAWLEY REMOVED FROM BOARD

In his second day in office, Gov. Tom Wolf recalled more than two dozen of former Gov. Tom Corbett’s eleventh-hour appointments, including Jim Cawley, the former Lt. Gov. who served on Temple’s Board of Trustees as an ex-officio member during Corbett’s term.

Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan told the Inquirer that the action should not affect Wolf’s ability to govern, as he and the legislature face a $2.3 billion deficit.

“He is still confident he can work with both parties and move forward to fix the budget and better fund education,” Sheridan said. “He made it clear he did not appreciate the process – the midnight appointment. He said he was going to review it, he did, and took action.”

Wolf said in a statement that he made the decision because his “top priority as governor of Pennsylvania is to restore public trust in government.”

The move has already upset Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman.

“The honeymoon is over,” Corman told the Inquirer. “He is not off to a flying start, for someone who said he was going to do things differently.”

Wolf’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

-Steve Bohnel

SUSPECT NABBED FOR ROBBERIES

Temple Police have apprehended a suspect in connection with two Thursday robberies.

Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said in an email Friday that 23-year-old Kareem Clancy of the 3200 block of Fox Street is being charged with two counts of robbery.

Leone said Clancy was armed with a pellet gun and approached a male student, taking his backpack which contained the student’s cell phone and wallet. There were no injuries.

Leone said the suspect was found with property from both complainants, and had attempted to discard the pellet gun, which he said was disguised to appear as a real pistol.

According to a TU Alert, the first robbery took place around 10:45 a.m. in the 1600 block of French Street, between Susquehanna Avenue and Diamond Street.

A Temple Police officer apprehended the suspect shortly after the second robbery of another student, which occurred at Carlisle and Jefferson streets shortly after the first, Leone said.

A TU Alert sent out around 2 p.m. indicated that the suspect had been apprehended.

Police are still searching for another suspect in connection with a robbery which took place around 7:40 p.m. Wednesday, when a male student was robbed near 18th and Arlington streets.

Leone said two men had approached a student in that robbery, and that one of them had a handgun.

The student in that incident surrendered his phone and wallet, but was not injured. The suspects then fled on foot east on Arlington Street, toward 17th Street.

-Lian Parsons

SERVICE EVENTS PLANNED FOR MLK DAY

Temple’s Office of Community Relations has coordinated with several local organizations in preparation for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19.

An opening ceremony for the holiday’s observance will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Girard College, on the corner of Corinthian and Girard avenues. Activities begin at 8:45 a.m., which include Human Resource Training led by Michael Robinson, a community outreach and hiring director at Temple.

Community Relations is also looking for volunteers to assist in a variety of projects at Girard, including nursing and medical students, who will work with the Department of Nursing at the Health and Wellness Fair.

Several clean-up projects are planned for the day, including ones at Berean Presbyterian Church, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church and the Penrose Recreation Center.

Temple University Black Alumni Alliance has worked with Community Relations to lead a painting, cleaning, and organization project at the Tanner G. Duckrey Elementary School, which starts at 9:30 a.m.

Those interested in volunteering should contact Community and Neighborhood Affairs Director Andrea Swan at 215-204-7409 or aswan@temple.edu.

-Steve Bohnel

BRICK ASSAULTER TO BE SENTENCED

Zaria Estes, the 15-year-old girl who pled guilty to charges in connection to the attacking of a Temple student with a brick in March, will be sentenced for the incident this Wednesday.

Estes pled guilty to charges of aggravated assault, conspiracy and possession of an instrument on Oct. 14 and was originally scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 17, but that had been rescheduled.

The state dropped three additional charges of making terroristic threats, simple assault and reckless endangerment of another person. Two other girls involved in the attack were initially charged as adults, but the charges were later dropped after court proceedings.

Estes faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the aggravated assault charge.

-Steve Bohnel

FREE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROPOSED

President Obama revealed a new proposed plan that would offer two years of free community college “for everybody who’s willing to work for it,” he said in an official White House video released on Thursday.

In order for students to stay on the plan, they will be required to attend community college at least half-time while maintaining a 2.5 GPA.

Community colleges would need to offer either academic programs that completely transfer credits to local four-year colleges and universities, or occupational training programs that have high graduation rates and offer degrees and certificates that are in-demand for the workforce, according to the White House release.

If the proposal is implemented, the federal government will contribute three-quarters of the tuition cost for two years of community college, which will be around $60 billion during the next 10 years. States would need to grant the rest of the money for qualified students.

-Steve Bohnel

WEST CHESTER STUDENT’S BODY FOUND

After a 36-day search, the body of Shane Montgomery was found in the Schuylkill, not far from Kildare’s Irish Pub in Manayunk, where he was last seen on Thanksgiving.

The Inquirer reported that six volunteer divers found the body at 12:09 a.m. on Jan. 3, three to four feet deep near the riverbank. The divers, who are part of the Garden State Underwater Recovery unit, had found Montgomery’s keys 800 yards upstream on Dec. 21.

“Today we have done what we promised. We found and brought Shane home,” Montgomery’s parents posted on their Facebook page, Help Find Shane Montgomery, on Jan. 3.

Funeral services for the deceased West Chester student were held at St. John the Baptist Church on Thursday, the Daily News reported. Around 1,000 people were in attendance.

According to the Facebook page, a Memorial Cut-A-Thon will be held at Salon Glam Couture Color by Nanci Butterly on Jan. 25. Haircuts and 50/50 raffles will be offered, with all the proceeds going to the Montgomery family.

-Steve Bohnel

LESS JOBS FOR DOCTORAL STUDENTS

According to a Jan. 12 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, schools like Duke and the University of Maryland – College Park are now offering more career services for doctoral students.

Job openings for Ph.D. students are declining while more people are obtaining the level of degree, according to federal data cited in the article.

“Some faculty members in the humanities and social sciences were adamant that if you’re admitting a student to pursue a Ph.D., they should be pursuing a career in academia,” Jacqueline Looney, a senior associate dean at Duke, told The Chronicle.

“Students are not finding the positions they thought the would after five, six and seven years of Ph.D. study,” Looney said.

-Joe Brandt

Philadelphia police are searching for a suspect in connection with a shooting that took place at 12th and Jefferson streets around 9:15 a.m today and claimed the life of a 56-year-old woman who was not affiliated with the university.

A Daily News online report indicated that the woman was shot in the back of the head. The suspected shooter was described in a TU Alert as 6 feet 2 inches tall and 220 pounds, wearing a black and gray puffy jacket and carrying a duffel bag.

The suspect, who was also described as wearing a black knit hat, was last seen heading west on Jefferson Street.

Media representatives for the city’s police force, reached around 12:30 p.m., could confirm only that a shooting had taken place in the area at 9:13 a.m. and that a female victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shooting occurred near the borders of the Temple Police patrol zone, which extends east to Ninth Street and south to Jefferson Street.

Anyone with information is urged to call Philadelphia Police at 215-686-3334.

Teresa S. Soufas, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, resigned today “due to health reasons,” according to a memo obtained by The Temple News.

Soufas will take a sabbatical before returning to teach and pursue academic work involving Spanish literature. The memo did not specify the expected length of her time away from the university.

Temple will appoint an interim dean before starting a national search for a permanent replacement in the 2015-16 academic year.

“At a time when public universities and independent colleges are facing concerns including declining enrollments in the liberal arts, President Theobald and I look forward to working with the college to develop a model for success,” Provost Hai-Lung Dai wrote in the memo.

Soufas, who has served as dean of CLA since 2007, was previously a professor at Tulane University, where she taught in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for 21 years.

Steve Bohnel can be reached at sbohnel@gmail.com or on Twitter @Steve_Bohnel.