On Friday, May 31, Matthew Miller, a rising senior at the University of the Arts, was in the middle of teaching private piano lessons when he heard his phone ping, notifying him of a text message from a friend. He will never forget the contents of that message: “Did you see the article? UArts is shutting down.”
“Honestly, at first I did not even believe it,” said Miller, who will be enrolling at Temple University for the fall. “This has just hurt so many people. It was really, really difficult news to take in.”
Miller was one of more than 1,300 current and prospective UArts students left in limbo when the school abruptly announced that its final day of operations would be Friday, June 7. The closure has been tragic news for both the Philadelphia and higher education communities, and that is especially true for current and prospective UArts students, who now must find an alternative path for starting or continuing their education.
Temple University and its schools and colleges have continued to work diligently to meet students where they are. As a community of more than 30,000 students, Temple might have seemed like a daunting place to students who were attending the much smaller UArts. Yet, what they’ve reported is that they have found a welcoming community of faculty, staff and fellow students of the arts. Since the sudden closure was announced, Temple has hosted two orientation sessions solely for UArts transfers.
“A lot of students have been very surprised to learn about the intimacy of our community,” said Susan Cahan, dean of the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. “During the orientation sessions that Temple hosted for UArts transfer students, members of our community— faculty, staff and students—were all working as a team to welcome these new students. I think the comradery was palpable.
“Both days, by the end of the orientation sessions, you could tell that the students were feeling so much more comfortable,” Cahan added. “One of the things that was true about UArts and is also true about Tyler is that the students and faculty work together very closely. In every Tyler class, faculty members know every student; they really care, and they support students throughout their time at Tyler. Our whole team truly enjoys watching students develop both their skills and their vision.”
While students have still faced considerable uncertainty since the sudden closure announcement, Temple’s efforts have provided students like Miller with hope. This fall, he will enroll as a student at Temple’s Boyer College of Music and Dance and thanks to the teach-out agreement with UArts, he is still on track to graduate in May 2025.
“The process has been relatively smooth, and Temple provided us with a lifeline,” Miller said. “All of us are very grateful for Temple taking us in. It’s a very difficult situation, and we appreciate them rising up to help us. They have really been doing so much to make (transferring) as easy as possible.”
That has been the university’s goal since the start. On the same evening that the news broke regarding the school’s closure, Temple launched a website so students would have a means to contact undergraduate admissions representatives. The university also made it clear that it would transfer as many credits as possible to ensure students stay on track for graduation, and students who transfer will not pay any more in net tuition and required university fee costs than they would had their education continued at UArts.
So far, more than 300 former and prospective UArts students have committed to enrolling at Temple this fall. This includes 129 students in Boyer; 110 in the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts; 77 in Tyler; four in the Klein College of Media and Communication; and one student in the College of Liberal Arts. For first-year students who were prospective UArts students, the most popular major at Temple for these incoming students is the first-year foundations program at Tyler. For former UArts students who are transferring to Temple, the most popular majors are jazz studies performance, musical theater, theater and music technology.
“Our mission from the very beginning has been to support and help the UArts students with a great deal of compassion and urgency,” said Robert Stroker, vice provost for the arts and dean of Boyer and the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts. “This has been the busiest summer for our team, but it’s also been one of the most rewarding. I have never seen this kind of effort. Faculty and staff members are working so hard to find ways to make this work. Department chairs are creatively exploring ways to help these students complete their degrees and find a continued sense of community.”
UArts transfer students who choose to live on campus also will find support among familiar faces. Temple’s Division of Student Affairs has worked to create a cohort community for UArts students on two floors of Johnson and Hardwick Halls. So far, more than 50 former UArts students have been assigned to live there, and that number is expected to grow before the start of the fall semester.
Additionally, Temple has hired a former UArts resident assistant (RA) to serve in the same role on one of these floors. A second former UArts RA will serve as a peer mentor for an arts-focused Living Learning Community (LLC); LLCs are residential communities of Temple students and faculty who share a common interest.
“University Housing and Residential Life is excited to play a role in welcoming our students to campus this fall, and easing the transition by providing an option for University of the Arts students to live together as a cohort is an important part of that effort,” said Olan Garrett, associate vice president of student affairs.
In working to accommodate incoming UArts transfers, Temple has also had to be creative in developing pathways for students to continue their studies. One of the best examples of that is at Tyler, where they are introducing a new undergraduate degree program this fall.
“There were several students who toured Tyler. And they loved it, but they noted that one of the things that was missing was an illustration degree,” said David Logan, assistant dean of academic advising at Tyler. “Thankfully, we had something already in the pipeline, which we have been able to fast-track.”
This fall, Tyler will launch the bachelor of fine arts in illustration and emerging media. While the program has been in development for several years, Tyler faculty members have worked closely with the Office of the Provost to help ensure that it can be launched this fall, as more than 30 transferring UArts students expressed an interest in the degree.
The program is perfect for today’s arts student, as it has been meticulously designed to bridge the gap between traditional illustration methods and the ever-evolving landscape of digital technology.
“The collective strength of the Temple University community over these last two months has been inspiring,” President Richard M. Englert said. “Faculty and staff have worked around the clock to find ways to ensure that all UArts students have a path to completing their studies. Our promise is that we will continue to support these talented and creative students, both now and after they arrive here on North Broad Street. We cannot wait to have them officially join this community.”