Tag Archives: Neil Theobald

New library still planned for Main Campus

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Contrary to reports earlier today, university officials told The Temple News that the university hasn’t scrapped plans to build a new library. Reports suggesting that Temple will update Paley Library instead of constructing a new facility are false.

“We’re building a new library,” said James Creedon, senior vice president for facilities, management and operations. “We will reinvigorate or do something new with Paley, but it won’t be in place of a new library.”

The library was previously slated to be built on North Broad Street as part of the 20/20 plan, which was the university’s “framework for campus development” under former President Ann Weaver Hart.

President Neil Theobald said last September, a month after he was named president, that he was excited about the prospect of a new library and its location on Broad Street.

“The ability to plan, from scratch, a new library, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do as someone who’s been a professor most of my life,” Theobald said at the time. “There is little at a university, especially a 21st century university, that is more important than a library, so I love the idea that it’s right on Broad [Street] and very visible.”

In an interview with The Temple News in April, he reiterated that the library wouldn’t be like Paley, however, he said he would like to see it on the east side of Main Campus.

“The library is going to provide us an opportunity to rethink how students learn. This will not be a library like [Paley Library], nothing like that. It won’t be stacks of books,” Theobald said. “In my mind, Broad Street kind of divides us. The east side is the academic side and the west side is the Liacouras Center and some housing. I think it’s very likely to end up on the east side.”

The president confirmed this in August when he said the library is “certainly going to be on the east side of Broad” Street.

The exact location of the new library has not been announced as the university develops its new master plan through its Visualize Temple initiative, which was launched at the end of last semester.

Snøhetta, a Norwegian firm that has designed the Alexandria Library in Egypt, the James B. Hunt Memorial Library at North Carolina State University and the Ryerson University Library in Toronto, is designing the library.

Anthony Wagner, CFO, resigns

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Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Anthony Wagner will resign from his post to take on a similar title at Georgia Regents University.

President Neil Theobald announced Wagner’s departure through a Temple Today statement on June 5.

“Tony has shown a tireless commitment to help Temple University flourish, even in difficult economic times,” Theobald said in the statement.

Wagner will take on the role of executive vice president and chief business officer at Georgia Regents, a health sciences research institution in Athens, Ga. that is part of the University System of Georgia.

Wagner and his wife Lisa were also active at the Newman Center, a Catholic community for students located on North Broad Street.

New dean for College of Education

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The university announced yesterday the hiring of the new dean for the College of Education, the third of six dean appointments expected this year.

Gregory Anderson, the dean of Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver since 2009, will officially take over his new role on July 1.

Prior to his tenure in Denver, Anderson held a teaching position at Columbia University and was a higher education policy officer at the Ford Foundation in New York.

“Gregory Anderson’s combination of experience and vision has prepared him to lead Temple’s College of Education — a national leader in teaching and research — at a critical moment for education in the city, the state and the nation,” President Theobald said in a statement released by the university. “The College of Education’s future is bright, and its graduates have never been more in need.”

In April, Michael Klein, the interim dean at the College of Science and Technology was appointed to a permanent position. Joseph Lucia, formerly of Villanova University, was also announced as the head of University Libraries in April.

Searches remain in place for the heads of the School of Media and Communication and the College of Health Professions and Social Work.

Vice President Unruh resigns

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David Unruh, the senior vice president for institutional advancement, resigned Friday in preparation for the shift of university presidency to Neil Theobald on Jan. 1, according to  an email sent by the Executive Office of the President.

Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement Tilghman Moyer will take over immediately for Unruh, who has been at the university for three years.

“It is not uncommon for a new president to put his own advancement team in place,” current President Richard Englert said in the email. “[Unruh] has been a terrific colleague and a great advocate for Temple and we wish him well as he pursues new opportunities.”

The university will begin the search for a new vice president in 2013.

John Moritz can be reached at john.moritz@temple.edu or on Twitter @JCMoritzTU.

Englert annouces search for permanent provost

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Acting President Richard Englert, on the behalf of future President Neil Theobald, announced Wednesday the start of an internal search process to find a new provost and senior vice president of academic affairs.

Theobald will take over the role of president beginning on Jan. 1. A search committee formed by the Executive Office of the President and the Department of Human Resources will propose a new candidate to Theobald no later than Feb. 1, according to a press release sent by Englert.

Nominees will be chosen from current tenured professors by a search committee composed of tenured and tenure track professors, deans, a university officer, Student Body President David Lopez or someone of his choosing, one graduate student nominated by the Graduate School, and a non-faculty staff member chosen by Englert.

Candidates are expected to have teaching as well as administrative experience, and experience with funded research projects, according to the press release.

Acting Provost Hai-Lung Dai has served as provost of the university since July 1, when Englert left the position to take over as acting president. The press release did not mention Dai.

Englert said the need to to fill interim dean positions as one of the main reasons for begining the search for a new permanent provost. There are currently five interim or acting deans at four colleges and University Libraries.

“The provost is one of the most important roles in the university, after that of the president. The provost provides vision and leadership for and oversight of our academic units and our core mission,” Englert said.

Theobald set to become university’s 10th president

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Nearly 11 months after former president Ann Weaver Hart announced that she would not be returning to Temple this summer, the Presidential Search Committee announced in an email that it will recommend Neil Theobald, senior vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University, to become Temple’s next president.

Patrick J. O’Connor, chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Presidential Search Committee said in an email Friday morning that Theobald will be recommended to the Board of Trustees on Aug. 7, and pending the trustees’ vote, will become president on Jan. 1.

“After reviewing…submissions and interviewing dozens of candidates, we came to the unanimous decision that Neil Theobald has the experience, vision and proven track record to lead this great university,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor said that Theobald’s record as a teacher and his dedication for making education affordable and accessible, made him an ideal candidate for president.

“At Indiana, he made the tough decisions demanded by our times, while creating greater opportunities for student scholarship,” O’Connor said. “I can’t think of a better set of values to bring to the Temple presidency.”

Theobald will be on Main Campus Monday and Tuesday to meet with students and faculty and to attend the Board of Trustees meeting.

Check back with temple-news.com for more information on Temple’s new president.