The Temple University community will come together Monday, March 31, through Saturday, April 5, to celebrate Temple pride and spirit during the third-annual Temple Made Days. As part of the week’s events, the university’s global contributions through scholarship, research, creative works and service will be highlighted during a special Innovation with Impact series on Thursday, April 3, and Friday, April 4. The week’s festivities will conclude with the investiture of John A. Fry as the university’s 15th president on Friday, April 4, which will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Temple Performing Arts Center and include performances by a student choir and orchestra.
As part of Temple Made Days, the university will host a scholarship reception to celebrate student recipients and the generous donors who have supported them on their educational journey. The university will also host a celebration of the 47 distinguished alumni honorees at its signature awards programs, Gallery of Success and 30 Under 30, during the week.
“Presidential investitures are often about the person, but it’s very important to me that this occasion be about Temple,” President Fry said. “Temple Made Days has grown to become an annual celebration of all things Temple, making this the ideal time to tap into that Temple pride by hosting a series of events called Innovation with Impact.”
The two-day Innovation with Impact showcase will call attention to Temple’s cutting-edge research, its community partnerships, its commitment to the arts and entrepreneurial endeavors while also showcasing how Temple is driving innovation on campus, in Philadelphia and beyond. Faculty members and students from across the university’s many schools and colleges will present during the course of the two-day event.
“What is so exciting about Innovation with Impact is that it’s a celebration of all things Temple,” President Fry said. “Research and creative work from across the university will be showcased, making this an ideal occasion for faculty, students and staff to come together and support their colleagues. We always talk about the tremendous work of our faculty, but this is an opportunity to see it up close in action.”
On Thursday, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., four different panel discussions will be held to showcase Temple’s innovations in research and teaching. Topics for those sessions include
- The Future of AI in Education and Research,
- The Road to Invention: How Ideas Become Companies,
- Women in Sports Media: 40 Years of Progress and Challenges, and
- Working Together: Interdisciplinary Efforts to Promote Community Health.
Following that, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., the talents of students from the Boyer College of Music and Dance and Tyler School of Art and Architecture will be on display during an Arts and Innovation Showcase. Events for the showcase include
- a Cybersounds Concert with Temple’s student electronic music ensemble, BEEP (Boyer College Electroacoustic Ensemble Project);
- a session focused on community poetics and ethno-photography with Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon of the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts and the Center for the Performing and Cinematic Arts and Joseph V. Labolito, senior photographer for Strategic Marketing and Communications, where they present stories about Philadelphia neighborhoods through photographs and poetic ethnography; and
- Artscape, an opportunity to view student-produced work and visit the gallery spaces of the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, including Temple Contemporary and the Edgar Heap of Birds Family Gallery.
The day of the Investiture Ceremony will kick off with Temple Talks, a set of curated six-minute talks designed to deliver maximum impact in minimum time. In these fast-paced sessions, faculty members from across Temple’s many schools and colleges will get right to the heart of their work, sharing fascinating discoveries and innovations that matter to our society.
The lineup for Temple Talks, which will be held on Friday, April 4, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., is as follows.
- Erik Cordes, College of Science and Technology
- Nyron Crawford, College of Liberal Arts
- Maia Cucchiara, College of Education and Human Development
- Sherri Hope Culver, Klein College of Media and Communication
- Ravi Kudesia, Fox School of Business
- Zoe Maher, Lewis Katz School of Medicine
- Iyad Obeid, College of Engineering
- Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Beasley School of Law
- Amina Robinson, School of Theater, Film and Media Arts
Following the Temple Talks, there will be a keynote conversation between President Fry and Ellen Cooper, FOX ’85, chair, president and CEO of Lincoln Financial Group. The talk with Cooper begins Friday at 11 a.m. and will be held in Rock Hall Auditorium.
A distinguished Temple alum and the first female CEO in the 120-year history of Lincoln Financial, Cooper will share insights on her career journey and how Temple shaped her as both a person and professional during this session.
A handful of pop-up events will be held during the week, as well. On Thursday and Friday, alum Mat Tomezsko, TYL ’09, will facilitate a “free paint” activation outside Charles Library where guests can participate in a community art project. Boyer College of Music and Dance students will also host impromptu jazz pods on Polett and Liacouras Walks near the owl statue on Friday, April 4.
Throughout the week, alumni and friends will be encouraged to show their collective support for the university through Temple Giving Days. The week’s festivities conclude on Saturday, April 5, with the first-ever Temple Made Fest, which will be held on campus. A celebration of the Temple community’s entrepreneurial spirit, the street festival will showcase businesses owned and operated by current students, alumni and former students.
Learn more about Innovation with Impact, view a complete schedule of events and RSVP. The deadline to RSVP has been extended to March 26.