NEWS
´I BELIEVE´
Story by Maria Raha
Fan spirit reaches a fevered pitch during the last minutes of the Temple–Xavier game.
Temple men´s basketball blazed trails through the 2011–2012 season. After winning its first outright Atlantic 10 regular–season championship since the 1989–1990 season, the team made its 30th appearance in the NCAA tournament, during which it lost in the second round to South Florida University. But the Owls´ winning streak is still impressive: From February 2009 to March 2012, they played 105 games without losing back–to–back matchups. They also achieved one of the most surprising upsets of the NCAA season, when they defeated Duke University—which until then had lost only one other game during regular–season play. And after Duke was defeated in the postseason, Temple boasted the second–longest winning streak in the nation.
The team ignited both Owl pride and a catchphrase courtesy of Jack Fatica, SBM ´98, and the Cherry Crusade, Temple´s fervent student spirit squad. "I believe that we have won!" became Owls fans´ postseason motto. To keep Temple spirits soaring, the Temple University Alumni Association and the Owl Club handed out "I Believe" T–shirts, which flooded the postseason stands.
In the first round of the Women´s National Invitation Tournament, Temple women´s basketball beat Quinnipiac University 75–60, and then defeated Harvard University 64–59. With a record of 23 wins and nine losses, the Owls advanced to the Sweet 16, where they faced—and fell to—Syracuse University. With an overall record of 23–10, the women´s team proved to be fierce competition all season long.
NEW DIGS FOR ARCHITECTS AND ATHLETES
story by Laura Kuserk, Class of 2013
The Department of Architecture, which has shared space in the Engineering building at 12th and Norris streets since the 1970s, recently moved into a new, dedicated building on 13th Street, doubling space for the department.
The facility is the first to be completed as a part of Temple´s 20/20 framework for campus development, which includes an arts quad comprising the Tyler School of Art, the Boyer College of Music and Dance, and the School of Communications and Theater. Such spirit of collaboration, and new spaces for the arts, will help position Temple as a global destination for art of all kinds.
Brigitte Knowles, Tyler School of Art senior associate dean in the Department of Architecture, believes the new space will attract students and allow the department to grow. New programs and degrees also have been added: Facility Management and Architectural Preservation, for undergraduates; an undergraduate pre–professional degree in architecture; and a graduate–level professional degree in architecture.
Additionally, engineering students will benefit. Steve Lengkeek, assistant dean of finance and operations for the College of Engineering, says members of the college are "relieved" to have the additional space vacated by the Architecture Department.
"In the past five years, our program has grown by 50 percent and we were maxed out," he says. "It´s a win–win for both programs."
Temple´s basketball teams also moved into their new, state–of–the–art practice facilities in Pearson–McGonigle Hall on Broad Street. In addition to new regulation–sized courts, the basketball facilities feature 24–hour access, coaches´ offices, recruiting and meeting spaces, strength and conditioning areas, an academic study lounge and more.
"Now, we have a home of our own, where we can be whenever we want, card–swipe our way in and work," says Fran Dunphy, head coach of men´s basketball. "We haven´t had that luxury before. And I mean that sincerely—it´s a luxury. There are plenty of really good basketball teams that don´t have what we do."
Pearson–McGonigle is undergoing a $58 million renovation, estimated to be completely finished by the end of 2012. In addition to the basketball facilities, the project will add additional recreational space, classrooms, offices and a front atrium that will include retail space on Broad Street.
Temple students and faculty talk about the difference the new space will make for architecture and engineering.
