September 26, 2023
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Temple has made Richard Englert its interim president following the death of JoAnne Epps.
Temple University has called on former president Richard Englert to be the school's interim leader, choosing a "steady hand" to take over after acting president JoAnne Epps' death last week.
The university's board of trustees said Tuesday that Englert's 45 years at Temple, including his five-year stint as president, make him the best person to oversee the school's leadership transition.
"During this time of deep sorrow, we are immensely grateful to Dr. Englert for answering the call, as he always has, to lead the Temple community forward," the board of trustees said.
Temple expects to complete its search for a new president by next spring.
Epps, 72, died last Tuesday after becoming ill during a university event honoring the life of historian Charles Blockson. She had been serving as Temple's acting president since the resignation of Jason Wingard in the spring. A memorial service for Epps will be held at the Liacouras Center on Friday, Sept. 29. Englert, 77, spoke at a vigil for Epps last Wednesday.
Englert joined Temple in 1976 as an assistant to the dean of the College of Education and went on to hold 17 different roles in the ensuing decades. He briefly served as acting president in 2012 and then again in 2016, following the resignation of former president Neil Theobald. At that time, he was appointed Temple's 11th president and served as the university's leader for five years. He has remained a chancellor following his retirement in 2021.
Temple has faced a number of challenges in recent years. Falling enrollment, campus safety issues and tense labor negotiations all contributed to Wingard's resignation; he had been facing a vote of no confidence from the faculty union less than two years into his tenure.
The university's board of trustees plans to remove the "acting" part of Epps' title and posthumously recognize her as the university's 13th president. Epps was a law professor at Temple for more than three decades and also had served as the university's executive vice president and provost before becoming acting president.
"Her compassion for the most vulnerable persons in our society is legendary and she had the knack of being able to inspire all of us to higher levels," Englert said at Epps' vigil. "JoAnne would not want us to simply grieve. She would want us to carry on, to push Temple to new heights."
