Story by Maria Klecko
Photography by Ryan S. Brandenberg and Lester Hinton
Illustration by MeiLi Carling TYL ’24
1
Owls are hooting about the City of Brotherly Love.
Students and alumni are joining and leading celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary through the Phambassadors program.
2
There’s a whole class on Kendrick Lamar.
While nodding their heads to the beats of the Pulitzer Prize-winning hip-hop artist, students dissect his lyrics; learn his life story; and delve into topics such as identity, social justice and violence.
3
Three students earned prestigious Goldwater Scholarships for the second consecutive year.
This marks the university’s first time achieving back-to-back cohorts of this size. The scholars represent research interests in ecology, neuroscience and computer science, respectively.
4
Temple’s new cutting-edge scanning electron microscope is just one of a few in the country.
And, it’s only the second at a university. It will advance the region’s medical and energy research by helping scientists visualize matter at the nanoscale.
5
Audience members who are hard of hearing or deaf can now enjoy Temple Theaters productions with real-time captions through smart glasses.
Temple is one of the first universities in the world to offer this technology for its performances.
6
The Kosher Corner in the Morgan Hall Food Court joined a growing list of Temple dining options catering to special diets.
These include vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and halal options.
7
Public Health Beyond Borders molds global citizens.
Traveling to India last winter and Peru over the summer, the students worked to provide international communities with information on topics such as water quality, oral hygiene, menstrual health and more.
8
Temple served as the signature site for the 1st annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
It was the largest event of its kind in the nation and more than 3,000 people showed up on Main Campus.
9
Landscape architecture and horticulture students cultivated 1,271 individual plants—representing 99 different taxa—for Temple’s 2026 Philadelphia Flower Show exhibit.
The exhibit won the Philadelphia Horticultural Society Gold Medal.
10
Local middle schoolers extracted DNA from strawberries at Temple’s Saturday College.
This pre-college program offers a glimpse into life as a medical student at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine.
11
The Temple Jazz Orchestra beat out the country’s nine other top collegiate jazz bands to win first place in the 2026 National Collegiate Jazz Championship at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Over the summer, they performed on a European tour, including stops in Italy, France and Spain.
12
Period products are free.
With menstrual product prices up a whopping 40% since 2020, students can access these essentials at no cost through the Essential Needs Hub.
13
A Temple doctoral student explored how therapeutic beekeeping may support mental wellness in older adults.
Meghan Robertson, CPH ’26, partnered with Half Mad Honey to study how this pastime could help improve mindfulness and social connection.
14
A professor was named a 2026 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History.
Bench Ansfield, assistant professor of history, received the honor for their book Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City.
15
Temple supports nearly 48,000 jobs in Philadelphia alone as the city’s fourth-largest employer.
Temple—including Temple Health—brings $11.1 billion in economic impact to Pennsylvania by supporting nearly 52,000 jobs, according to a recent analysis by Econsult Solutions Inc.
16
A renowned psychology professor released an update to her 2003 book on why play matters.
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek’s award-winning Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn—and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less now includes a chapter on navigating digital media.
17
A Temple Made doctor was Olympic bound—again—as the Team USA men’s hockey team physician.
Joel Boyd, MED ’84, previously served in the same role at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
18
A Temple senior cashed in on his supply chain business idea at the Fox School’s Be Your Own Boss Bowl.
Erez Yarden’s award-winning pitch was for SourceFill, a platform that helps small brands navigate global manufacturing challenges.
19
Tyler’s green hallway transforms into a red-carpet runway.
Students model bold, bewildering and beautiful handmade creations during the Wearable Art Show, held each spring.
20
Temple students gained hands-on industry experience.
Multiple students interned at the 2026 FIFA World Cup and PGA Championship in Greater Philadelphia.
21
Nearly 1,300 trees stand tall on Main Campus.
These trees create shade and remove more than 800 pounds of pollution from the air each year. Students audit every tree, verifying its size, age and species. This data is compiled into the Temple University Tree Map.
22
A class on the value of higher ed is taught by an actual university president.
Why Care About College? is led by former Temple President Richard Englert, now chancellor.
23
Undergrads help change lives.
At the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, undergraduate students collaborate with faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to better understand addiction and drug interactions and work toward new interventions.
24
Temple hosted one of Philly’s largest public employment fairs.
More than 1,000 job seekers attended the 19th annual Neighborhood Job Fair and Resource Village at the Aramark STAR Complex.
25
The AIRE Lab revolutionizes how athletic departments operate.
Through the Athletic Innovation, Research and Education (AIRE) Lab, the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management and Temple Athletics are partnering to maximize the experience, performance and well-being of college athletes.
26
Engineering researchers use bubbles to remove contaminants from drinking water.
Graduate students Md Saiful Islam and Gangadhar Andaluri created a foam that captures contaminants and allows them to be easily filtered from water without applying toxic chemicals.
Explore More in This Issue
Related News
Temple leads the way toward a more accessible theater experience
With WatchWord Live, Temple becomes one of the first universities in the world to offer innovative captioning technology designed to give deaf and hard-of-hearing theatergoers greater freedom in how they experience live performances.
Temple’s economic impact in Pennsylvania is more than $11 billion
According to a new economic impact study, Temple and Temple Health’s impact on the state economy is more than $11 billion, including nearly 52,000 jobs.