Walking around Temple on a regular day any student can notice the construction around the Student Center or at 1800 Liacouras Walk. Most of the renovations are afforded by alumni funding which has shown a steady rise in recent years.
“In the year that included Sept. 11, [2001] and after, we raised $37.77 million, which was an increase from previous years,” Caulfield said.
Fundraising rose to $44.41 million in fiscal year 2002 and $50.30 million in fiscal year 2003. The steady rise of Temple fundraising and donations can be attributed to Stuart Sullivan, said Mark Eyerly, Temple’s chief communications officer.
Sullivan took the office of vice-president in 2001 and has renewed emphasis on alumni development. He also reorganized and reenergized a better relationship with the alumni which in turn generated more donations. An example of his reorganization is the development of alumni staff in all schools and colleges.
New plans are underway for the next several years involving a total of $400 million in reconstruction and renovation.
The first part of the plan is to move the Tyler School of Art to the main campus.
“The new $75 million project will bring Tyler’s 120 faculty and nearly 800 students to a new 255,000-square-foot building on the university’s Main campus,” Eyerly said. He added that $58 million came from funding from the state and the remainder came from university fundraising.
The Fox School of Business and Management will also undergo expansion in the next several years. The $78 million project will include approximately 190,000 square feet of new construction. Tentative plans include expanding the school into the location where Curtis Hall presently stands. The Curtis Hall facilities will then move to 1800 Liacouras Walk once they are renovated.
The recently completed Entertainment and Community Education Center (ECEC) cost $16.3 million to build. ECEC is a 61,000-square-foot structure providing street-level retail. On the second-floor it houses broadcast facilities for WRTI, Temple’s public radio station. The station has a performance studio for live broadcasts.
“The studio can be leased by cultural organizations for making commercial-quality recordings,” Eyerly said. “The new facility will leverage the power of broadcasting to the benefit of Philadelphia’s cultural community.
The facility also houses Temple’s Partnership Schools program, a collaborative effort linking the University, the School District of Philadelphia, and six public schools in the surrounding neighborhoods. It serves as a major resource for community residents, providing access to job listings, computers, and educational and meeting space.
The other fundrasing money goes into the $20 million effort to upgrade and renovate laboratories and research facilities, along with the extensive recruitment of new faculty to tenured and tenure-track positions. The other plan is to have a second phase of renovations to the University’s Student Center, which will add 86,000 square feet to this hub of student activity at a cost of $30 million.
Further renovation is planned to occur on a string of historic townhouses along the 1800 block of Liacouras Walk. The renovation will maintain and restore the building’s historic facade while housing essential student services, including health care, advising and the Academic Resource Center.
Another plan is to design and construct for the Temple’s Health Sciences Center a new $150 million School of Medicine. Also, a new $18 million learning center is being designed for the Ambler campus. The center will provide smart classrooms, computer laboratories, a visual art studio, a distance learning facility, student lounges, an auditorium and other instructional areas for writing, math and science.
Finally, the university is in the midst of a $29 million restoration of the long-vacant and historically significant Baptist Temple, constructed in 1878 by the congregation of Temple’s founder, Dr. Russell Conwell.
Olga Dvornikova can be reached at tua07039@temple.edu.
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