Updated 10/02 at 9:12 p.m.
As Temple begins the search for its 14th president, the university is working to include conversations with students, faculty, staff and the surrounding North Philadelphia community in its selection process.
Students are at the center of early insight efforts, as the university has partnered with The Collective Genius, a research, marketing and business strategy firm, to facilitate a number of stakeholder feedback opportunities, including in-person and virtual listening sessions and an online survey for students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the administration.
TCG will gather input from the sessions and survey responses to create a report that will be shared publicly and given to the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, said Melinda Swan, founder and chief executive officer of TCG.
“We’re not going to walk in with conclusions or ideas that we want to push on people,” Swan said. “We’re trying to get their honest opinions in a really positive, constructive way. That better informs the search committee, the board and even the next president about what students faculty, all the people who love Temple, what they care about, what they’re looking for in our next leader.”
Board of Trustees Chair Mitchell Morgan sent a survey to students when the search was announced on Sept. 7. It asks questions regarding the challenges and opportunities the next president will endure, desired traits in the leadership role and what respondees think the legacy of the president will be. Following the sudden death of JoAnne Epps, TCG extended the survey response period until Oct. 8.
In addition to the survey, student listening sessions were held on Sept. 18 and Sept. 19. TCG conducted the sessions using the “World Cafe Method,” which is a small-group dialogue approach that emphasizes simple discussion.
The method was used when appropriate, meaning that if sessions had a smaller turnout then TCG kept the group together rather than creating smaller groups, Swan said.
When participants went to the sessions held in the Fox-Gittis Room in The Liacouras Center, they sat in small groups. TCG asked what should be prioritized in the president search, which was then discussed while being recorded.
“It’s open, it’s helpful, but it’s also constructive and productive and gives everyone a chance to express their views,” Swan said.
The recorded answers will all be combined into the final report, which seeks to be as comprehensive as possible, and shared with the public and the advisory committee, Swan said. TCG will summarize conversations held virtually and in person and include survey results. The appendix of the report will feature anonymous, full quotes from participants.
TCG does not attribute any of the comments made during the sessions to ensure honesty and anonymity, as privacy is one of the most important parts of the process, Swan said.
Temple Student Government will also meet twice with TCG to convey student feedback, said Student Body President Rohan Khadka, a junior secondary education-social studies. Before those meetings, Khadka and his team will research what students are passionate about.
Khadka, the only student on the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, believes student voices drive the university and it is crucial to hear as many opinions as possible. He said he is “cautiously optimistic” students will have a larger say in this search compared to last time.
“It’s a very big role, especially with everything that went on with Jason Wingard and what we saw in that presidential tenure and how engaged students are,” Khadka said. “I think it’s so crucial to find a next leader that not only represents what the students want, but what this job is expecting from them.”
While Khadka expects the role to be tough because he is a single person advocating for thousands of students, TSG’s outreach team has developed a plan to relay as many student voices to the committee as they can. The team is reaching out to student organizations to gain a better sense of what members want to see addressed at advisory meetings.
“Those are some ways that we’re trying to get a bigger scope and a bigger umbrella of issues that we’re going to represent,” Khadka said.
Shohreh Amini, a biology professor and president of the university’s Faculty Senate, is also on the search advisory committee.
Amini believes graduate students may be overlooked in the process. In Spring 2023, TUGSA striked for 42 days for increased pay, better benefits and classroom improvements. Amini thinks that graduate these students’ voices should be prioritized since they were heavily involved in university discussions last year.
While undergraduate students are represented by Khadka on the search advisory committee, there is currently no graduate student representative.
As the committee prepares to advise the Board of Trustees on what the community would like to see in a president, Amini has reached out to the Board to consult about including all stakeholder voices.
“I have talked to that office a couple of times, and I basically emphasize the fact that we do not want to make the same mistake,” Amini said. “So whatever we learn from other searches, I’m not saying previous, but other searches, we have to learn from.”
After Oct. 8, TCG will begin the process of analyzing data and assembling its report, which the advisory committee will use to inform their decision.
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