On his first day of school, new Temple President John Fry meets with public safety officials and receives an enrollment update.

At noon on Friday, John A. Fry’s wife wrote to him: “How are you, Owl?”

“So far, so good!” – Fry answered.

It was the first day of school for Fry, who on Friday officially became president of Temple University, home of the Owls. He wore a cherry red tie with a T in honor of Temple – one of his predecessor Richard M. Englert often worn – and a badge with the scales of justice and the words “leadership” and “integrity” in honor of late President Joanne A. Eppsformer law school dean who died suddenly last year.

“When I got dressed, I thought about the two of them,” said Fry, 64, who headed Drexel University in West Philadelphia for 14 years. before crossing the city head Temple. “I’m following in the footsteps of some truly great leaders.”

It was a busy day: He met with the provost and vice provost for enrollment management and learned that applications were being actively received. He listened as student government leaders proposed what he considered very constructive improvements to campus transportation. The Presidential Transition Team meeting outlined plans to expand campus shuttle services. if the blow is SEPTA is happening.

There was lunch with outgoing President Richard M. Englert, a personnel matter, and a visit to the College of Liberal Arts, where he dropped in on a few classes and heard a promising speech from Dean Richard Deeg about expanding study abroad opportunities in Latin America. and Africa. He toured the main campus led by student ambassadors, walked through the student basketball team’s pep rally in the Bell Tower and met with about 40 Department of Public Safety officers and leaders.

Fry announced on campus welcome video that the safety of the campus and area will be his first priority.

“Public safety is the cornerstone of any institution,” he said. “If people don’t feel safe, if they don’t feel like they’re in a good social environment, it really distracts them from the work they should be doing, whether it’s as students, faculty or staff.”

Temple’s campus has been rocked in recent years by the shootings of a former student. Samuel Collington outside his off-campus apartment in 2021 and Temple Police Sgt. Christopher Fitzgerald in 2023, providing new security efforts and a reduction in aggravated assaults, robberies and thefts on campus.

Fry said that although he worked in security at Drexel and previously worked as an executive at the University of Pennsylvania, he is not very familiar with North Philadelphia. He asked the officers for help.

“I have to do multiple patrols on different shifts so I can really learn the geography,” he said. “I need to get to know the neighbors, the campus, the dynamics between the neighborhood and the campus.”

Fry’s attention to safety was met with praise.

“We are thrilled and grateful that President Frye had his first day of meeting and greeting on public safety,” said Jennifer Griffin, Temple vice president for public safety. “His words were inspiring, and we look forward to supporting his vision for Temple.”

In a welcome video, Fry listed enrollment as another of his five priorities. Temple has seen an approximately 25% decline in student enrollment since 2017. But this fall the university accepted 4926 freshmenwhich is almost 30% more than last year. And while overall enrollment was down 1.7%, it was a much smaller drop than last year, perhaps signaling that Temple may be turning the corner.

Frye acknowledged the benefit of improving both safety and enrollment from the outset.

“There is a sense of confidence – not overconfidence – but confidence and momentum,” he said. “There really is a lot of hope here that I can work. … What I want to do is build on that dynamic.”

Finance seniors Conor McCabe and Alex McShane cited public safety and student enrollment as two of the top issues they’d like to see at Fry.

“I wish more smart kids would come here,” said McShane, 21, of Phoenixville.

“When you see students doing their best, it inspires other students to do it,” agrees McCabe, 21, of Havertown.

They both said they were looking forward to seeing Fry on Friday. The two help run Temple. student investment fundproject in which students control a portion of Temple’s endowment, and Fry would come to their classroom, they said.

Fry also cited science, research and philanthropy as some of his top priorities. He said it was not too early to start thinking about a fundraising campaign that would culminate with Temple’s 150th anniversary celebration in 2034.

“There’s a lot of preparation that needs to be done,” he said, “a feasibility study to make sure the team is built correctly. I need to meet thousands of people. This build-up will take some time.”

Rounding out his priorities, he mentioned a commitment to creating an innovation corridor stretching from the main campus up Broad Street to the medical school campus less than two miles away. But he also said in his video that he plans to move south toward Downtown.

” READ MORE: College President as City Planner

During the interview, he said Temple was interested in potentially purchasing some of Closed University of the Arts prime real estate when it comes up for sale as a result of bankruptcy. Temple has a site downtown at 15th and Market streets.

“Should we have a more prominent role and place in the city centre? To be determined,” he said.

After UArts abruptly closed in June, Temple attempted to negotiate an acquisition, but the Hamilton Family Charitable Foundation, which contributed about half of UArts’ endowment, opposed the transfer donations to Temple. Now it’s time is in the Orphan’s court.

Several students expressed hope that the start of Frye’s tenure would bring stability to the leadership position after Jason Wingard’s resignation in March 2023, less than two years later, and Epps’ death in September 2023.

“We haven’t seen any leadership cohesion on campus yet,” said Kate Pawlowczak, 19, a sophomore advertising major from Richboro.

She hopes the school can now focus on issues such as helping students who don’t have enough to eat.

Despite having spent the previous 22 years as college president, 14 at Drexel and eight at Lancaster Franklin & Marshall College, Temple became Fry’s first partially public university.

It’s “part of my training,” he said.

Fry wants to establish a good working relationship with the board of trustees; Drexel’s 63-member board was about twice the size of Temple’s, and he said he never felt like he was crossing the line from management to management.

He had learned from previous presidencies that there needed to be a balance between “getting out of the gate quickly and getting things done” and listening and learning.

“At first I will receive a lot of advice… which I will internalize and respect, but in the end it will be my job to synthesize it all and then, at a certain point in time, state my point of view based on what I hear, as well as my own intuition,” he said.

He also notes the importance of getting to know people early, personally and professionally, and building trust, authority, and friendship.

“It will pay off later,” he said.

But on an unusually warm November day, Fry was simply enjoying a walk around the campus he now oversees, taking in the views of Temple’s main streets.

“I felt like I was very lucky,” he said.