Temple University names ex-dean, provost JoAnne Epps as acting president

PHILADELPHIA - Former Temple University law school dean and provost JoAnne Epps has been named acting president of the university.

She vowed to focus on safety and enrollment amid spiraling crime near the north Philadelphia campus and other issues during her predecessor's tumultuous tenure of less than two years."I am obviously humbled and excited and really looking forward to being able to make a contribution to the university that I so love," Epps said in an interview with the paper.

She said she will not be a candidate for the permanent position as the university launches a national search for a new president.Jason Wingard, Temple's first Black president, resigned last month after leading the 33,600-student university since July 2021.Wingard, 51, resigned shortly before a no-confidence vote by the faculty union, with members citing concerns over falling enrollment, financial issues and labor disputes.

He had told a panel of state lawmakers a week earlier that Philadelphia’s homicide rate has wrought a climate in which students, faculty, parents and staff are afraid.In announcing his resignation, the school vowed to ensure "the highest level of focus" on serious issues facing the institution, "particularly campus safety."Temple University police officer Christopher Fitzgerald, 31, was shot and killed near campus earlier this year after pursing three people dressed in black and wearing masks in an area where there had been a series of robberies and carjackings.