In 1978, my sister wanted to go to Temple’s Dental Hygiene program – at that time, my parents absolutely refused to send her there because of the reputation of the city and according to them, there was ‘nothing so special about the university or its program’ to warrant putting their daughter “in danger.”

Nine years later, the city’s reputation hadn’t changed significantly (though it would in the years I attended and those immediately following) but the University’s certainly did. The biggest difference in those nine years was the new direction and vision set by Peter Liacouras who took Russell Conwell’s original mission to serve those who were so often under-served to heart and to make Temple University a place where so many people of so many backgrounds could peacefully coexist and happily call their home.

It’s been 25 years since I was a student on that campus and while not every day from 1987 to 1991 was made of rainbows and puppy dogs, every day was a day I learned something new about myself, the people I chose to befriend, those I didn’t, and the larger world around me.
North Broad will always be a place I think of as “home” and much of that is because of the community Peter Liacouras helped to create among “an acre of diamonds”.