On the first day of school, Temple’s new president, John Fry, meets with public safety officials and receives an enrollment update

At noon Friday, John A. Fry’s wife texted him: “How’s it going, Owl?”

“So far so good!” Fry replied.

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” for Temple, one of his own predecessor Richard M. Englert often worn — and a pin with a scale of justice and the words “leadership” and “integrity” in honor of President JoAnne A. Epps has diedformer law school dean who died suddenly last year.

“When I put on the suit, I thought of the two of them,” said Fry, 64, who headed Drexel University in West Philadelphia for 14 years before crossing the city take the helm at Temple. “I follow in the footsteps of some really great leaders.”

The day was packed: he met with the provost and vice-rector for enrollment management and learned that applications were increasing. He listened to student government leaders present what he believed were very constructive improvements to campus shuttle services. The president’s transition team meeting discussed plans to expand shuttle services on campus in the event of a SEPTA strike occurs.

There was lunch with outgoing President Richard M. Englert, a staffing issue to resolve, and a visit to the College of Liberal Arts, where he took a few classes and listened to Dean Richard Deeg’s promising proposal to expand study abroad opportunities in Latin America and Africa. He organized a tour of the main campus led by student ambassadors, walked through a rally of students supporting the basketball team in the Bell Tower and met with about 40 Department of Public Safety officers and leaders.

Fry announced on campus welcome video how safe the campus and surrounding area will be his first priority.

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

In recent years, Temple’s campus was rocked by the shooting death of a former student Samuel Collington outside his off-campus apartment in 2021 and Sgt. temple police. Christopher Fitzgerald in 2023, giving new security efforts and reduce the number of assaults, robberies and thefts on campus.

Fry said that although he focused on safety at Drexel and his previous work as a principal at the University of Pennsylvania, he is not very familiar with North Philadelphia. He asked the officers for help.

“I have to go on patrol in different shifts to really learn the geography,” he said. “I need to get to know the neighbors, the campus, the dynamic between the neighborhood and the campus.”

Fry’s focus on safety was welcomed.

“We are thrilled and grateful that President Fry has his first exposure to public safety on day one,” said Jennifer Griffin, Temple’s 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 registration as another of his five priorities. Since 2017, Temple has seen an approximately 25% decline in student enrollment. However, this fall at the university admitted 4,926 first-year studentswhich is an increase of almost 30% compared to last year. And while overall enrollment is down 1.7%, it’s a much smaller decline than last year, likely signaling that Temple may be on the mend.

Fry initially acknowledged the benefits of both improved security and enrollment.

“There is a sense of confidence – not overconfidence – but certainty and dynamism,” he said. “There is a really strong hope here that I can work with. (…) I want to build on this momentum.”

Senior finance officers Conor McCabe and Alex McShane cited public safety and recruitment as the two main issues they would like Fry to address.

“I would like to see more smart kids come here full speed,” said McShane, 21, of Phoenixville.

“When you see students do their best, it inspires other students to do the same,” agreed McCabe, 21, of Havertown.

They both said they were looking forward to seeing Fry on Friday. They both help run Temple’s student investment fundproject in which students oversee a portion of Temple’s funds and Fry is scheduled to come to their classes, they said.

Fry also listed academics, research and philanthropy as his top priorities. He said it’s not too early to start thinking about a fundraising campaign that will culminate in Temple’s 150th anniversary in 2034.

“There’s a lot of preparation that needs to be done,” he said, “feasibility studies to make sure the team is built the right way. I have to meet thousands of people. This buildup will take time. “

Summarizing his priorities, he cited aspirations for 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 anticipates traffic moving south toward Center City.

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During the interview, he said Temple was interested in potentially purchasing some of them closed University of Arts prime real estate when it is put up for sale through bankruptcy. The temple is located downtown at 15th and Market streets.

“Should we have a more visible role and location in Center City? To be determined,” he said.

After UArts abruptly closed in June, Temple tried to negotiate a takeover, but the Hamilton Family Charitable Trust, which had given about half of UArts’ funds, refused opposed the transfer donations to the Temple. Now here’s the thing he’s in the orphans’ court.

Several students expressed hope that the beginning of Fry’s term would provide stability in subsequent positions Jason Wingard’s resignation in March 2023, after less than two years and Epps’ death in September 2023.

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

He hopes the school will now be able to focus on issues such as helping students who don’t have enough to eat.

Although he spent the previous 22 years as a college president, 14 of them at Drexel and eight at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Temple is Fry’s first partially public university.

It’s “part of my learning path,” he said.

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

He has learned from previous presidencies that there must be a balance between “getting out of the gate quickly and making things happen” and listening and learning.

“In the beginning I will get a lot of advice… which I will absorb and respect, but ultimately my task will be to synthesize it all and then at some point present a plan. My point of view is based on what I hear, but also on my own intuition,” he said .

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

“It will pay off later,” he said.

But on this unseasonably warm November day, Fry simply enjoyed walking around the campus he now oversaw, admiring the views along Temple’s main avenues.

“I was extremely lucky,” he said.