Progress

Opportunities for Success

First Provost's Teaching Academy Initiates Teaching in Higher Education Certificate—The Teaching and Learning Center, through the Provost's Teaching Academy, is collaborating with the College of Education to offer certificate programs in higher education teaching with two tracks—one for Temple graduate students and one for community college faculty.

Improved NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR)—The APR report, released spring '09, shows 11 out of 23 Temple varsity teams scoring a perfect 1000 and football scoring 960, its highest rating ever for a single-year score; and Temple receiving an unqualified full recertification.

Project EDIT (Embracing Diversity Through Inclusive Teaching)—Collaboration between the Teaching and Learning Center and Disability Resources and Services, funded by a $50,000 Verizon grant, is bringing together 15 faculty members from eight different schools to explore inclusive teaching that addresses the needs of different types of learners.

Project Enterprise Launch for Finance/HR—A university-wide administrative systems upgrade, Project Enterprise, is launching betas of several applications--centralized purchasing, human resources and finance--which will make processes more efficient, integrate enterprise administrative data and provide easy access to critical information.

STEP UP--Short-Term, Education Program for Undergraduate and Pre-Doctoral Students—Backed by a five-year, $500,000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, the School of Medicine is launching STEP UP to increase the number of minorities involved in health-related research.

Global Commitment

Collaboration with Future University in Egypt—Through its Schools of Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Engineering, Temple University has an agreement of collaboration with Future University in Egypt.

Internet Dance Project with John Moore University in Liverpool—Luke Kahlich, professor of Dance and five Temple students are conducting research in dance pedagogy and the creative process using email, Skype and Acrobat Connect Pro via Internet 2 in collaboration with John Moore University in Liverpool.

New International Partners for Dual Bachelor's Master's Degrees (DBMD)—Feng Chia University and National Hsinchu University of Education are now DBMD partners, part of a program in which international students spend three years at their home university and years four and five in a Temple University graduate program of their choice.

Temple Theater's "In Conflict" Performed in Europe—Temple Theater students performed "In Conflict," based on a book, by Yvonne Latty, of interviews with Iraq war veterans, at the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland where it received the Fringe First Award, and off-Broadway where it received excellent reviews.

Metro-Engagement

Academic Center on Research in Diversity (ACCORD)—ACCORD seeks to generate and apply knowledge that will help close gaps in achievement related to issues of race and other classifications, such as gender, class, disability, orientation and religion.

Center for Pennsylvania Environmental Technologies (PEPTI)—The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania awarded Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Rominder Suri a $1.6 million grant to establish a new center--PEPTI--in the College of Engineering, which will make Temple a worldwide research hub for the green manufacture of medicine.

Collaborative Scholarly E-book Publishing Program—The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded Temple University Press and three other university presses a planning grant to study the feasibility of a collaborative scholarly e-book publishing program.

Conwell Community Corps—Public interest law program provides 10 recent Temple law graduates with full-time, paid, six-month legal positions at Philadelphia-area public-interest agencies to work on urgent community needs from home foreclosures and civil liberties to education and immigration.

Educating Middle-Grades Teachers for Challenging Contexts (E=mc2)—The first math and science professionals graduated from the E=mc2 program (a partnership of Temple's Colleges of Education, and Science and Technology and the Pennsylvania Department of Education), which prepares midcareer science and math professionals as middle school teachers.

Farmer's Market on Cecil B. Moore—Local vendors selling fresh local food have been lining Cecil B. Moore between Broad St. and Park Walk for a weekly farmer's market, supported by Temple and the Philadelphia Food Trust.

Football Team Received Award for Exemplary Community Service—The John Wanamaker Sports Congress honored Temple University's Football Team for their Exemplary Community Service, including their strong support of the North Philadelphia community and charitable causes, such as the Ronald McDonald House and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

"Green Renaissance" Wins Awards at Philadelphia Flower Show—At the 2009 Philadelphia Flower Show, "Green Renaissance—The Revival of Sustainable Living," presented by students and faculty of Ambler's Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture, garnered five awards including the American Horticultural Society Award for horticultural excellence linking horticulture and the environment .

In Loving Memory of Project—A multidisciplinary community arts project, directed by Professors Pepón Osorio of the Tyler School of Art and Karen M. Turner of the School of Communications and Theater, is creating awareness of the impact of youth violence on the Latino community in North Philadelphia through art, photography, audio and video.

JoAnne Epps Awarded 2009 Sandra O'Connor Award—The Philadelphia Bar Association honored Joanne E. Epps, Dean of the Beasley School of Law with the 2009 Sandra Day O'Connor Award for mentorship, promotion and advancement of women lawyers.

Pennsylvania Innocence Project—A project housed at the Beasley School of Law, using DNA testing and other irrefutable evidence is helping to identify and exonerate Pennsylvania inmates who have been wrongfully convicted.

Philadelphia Experience (PEX) Passport for First-Year Students—A passport will give first-year students free or reduced-price access to 37 cultural organizations in Philadelphia from the Academy of Natural Sciences to the Pennsylvania Ballet, and also facilitate experiential learning built into the GenEd curriculum.

"Powerful Voices for Kids"—Media Literacy Program—Verizon awarded a $50,000 grant to the university's Media Education Lab to help school-aged children strengthen their critical thinking and communication skills through "Powerful Voices for Kids," a media literacy program housed at the Russell Byers Charter School.

President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll—The Corporation for National and Community Service named Temple to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition an educational institution can achieve for its commitment to service learning and civic engagement.

Reducing "Bird Building" Collisions—Temple conducted a study, in partnership with Audubon Pennsylvania, to reduce bird-window mishaps by pinpointing which buildings on Temple's Main campus may be the most deadly for birds.

Science Leadership Academy Health Conference—The College of Health Professions held their first health conference at a Philadelphia-area high school, the Science Leadership Academy, to educate students in making healthy lifestyle decisions related to fitness and nutrition, addiction, mental health and relationships.

Temple Community Garden—Temple students are setting up and maintaining a community vegetable garden, for which the produce and profits will go to local soup kitchens.

Women's Intercultural Leadership Seminar—Jewish and Arab women from Israel who are leaders in their professions and communities came together in Philadelphia at a seminar on women's community leadership designed by the Dialogue Institute at Temple and funded by the U.S. Department of State and Temple's College of Liberal Arts.

Research Excellence

Creative Arts Research and Scholarship (CARAS) Project--Pink Dandelion—A sculpture major, showed her Pink Dandelion Project, funded by a $3,000 grant from CARAS, at the Crane Arts gallery in New Kensington.

Pan-European and International Awareness of Security Technology Ethics—Hector Postigo, associate professor of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media is collaborating with researchers from the Centre for Technology and Society Technical University in Berlin, the Interdisciplinary Center for Technology Analysis and Forecasting at Tel Aviv University, the Turku School of Economics and the Futures Research Centre in Finland, the Foundation for European Scientific Cooperation in Warsaw and Lancaster University's Department of Organisation, Work and Technology on a research project, "Promotion of Pan-European and international awareness of the ethical aspects of security technologies."

Public Health Law Research Program—The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation selected the Beasley School of Law to manage a new $19 million national program that will fund interdisciplinary research exploring legal and regulatory solutions to pressing health challenges.

Saving Threatened Coral—A four-year grant from the U.S. Minerals Management (MMS) and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research will fund a research team, led by Erik Cordes, assistant professor of biology, that is developing a way to protect vital coral communities from an expanding frontier of oil platforms pushing deeper into the Gulf of Mexico.

Destination Temple

125th Anniversary Celebration—In January 2009, Temple began celebrating its 125-year history through special events and an anniversary web site including videos of cherished memories of alumni.

Paint the Town Cherry Week—In May 2009, as part of the university's 125th anniversary celebration, the Philadelphia skyline, including the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, the Cira Centre, Liberty Place and Boathouse row, was lit up in Temple cherry; and students, alumni and employees participated in a video contest.

Jack Wolgin International Prize in the Fine Arts—The Tyler School of Art announced three semi-finalists for the Wolgin Prize, a $150,000 prize, the largest prize of its kind in the world, established by philanthropist Jack Wolgin, which will be given annually to an artist whose work transcends traditional boundaries and exemplifies the highest level of artistic excellence. (Wolgin Prize awarded to Ryan Trecartin (10/09) for his video work that explores modern culture.)

Torah Dedication at Temple's Hillel Center—Temple celebrated the Lipman family's donation of a torah in memory of Marc Lipman to the Edward H. Rosen Hillel Center, which opens fall '09.

Trojan Horse Initiates Art School Dialogue—In spring '09 Tyler students declared war on Philadelphia's four other art schools (Moore College of Art, the Art Institute, the University of the Arts, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts) by placing large scale Trojan horse sculptures inside each of these schools, prompting artistic retaliations from two of the schools.