Dr. Moshe Porat, Dean of the Fox School of Business, has been asked stepped down following an internal investigation into several false reports made by the school during his tenure.
President Englert announced today that Porat had “knowingly provided false information to at least one rankings organization about the Online MBA”, as well as exaggerating undergraduate GPAs, acceptances, and student debt post graduation.
Dr. Porat made the decision earlier to disband the internal committee within Fox responsible for the review and regulation of all data submitted by the college. The review found that the lack of regulation and monitoring of Fox’s reports likely led to the misprinting and false publishing of data by the dean’s office.
President Englert and Provost Epps requested that Dr. Porat step down immediately following the scandal. An interim dean will be selected while Temple begins the process of selecting a new permanent dean.
According to philly.com, Dr. Porat refused to step down, but Kevin Feely, a Temple spokesman, said Dr. Porat no longer runs the business school.
The update from President Englert also restated that the actions of the former dean do not reflect on Temple as a whole.
“Temple’s values and culture have guided us successfully since 1884. They are guiding me now in today’s decision. While I am deeply saddened by these developments, I am confident we are taking the right steps to address this issue. Our message here is simple: what happened at the Fox School cannot be allowed to happen again at Temple.”
More information is expected to arrive from the provost office in the coming days, including further data and more comprehensive analytics regarding the investigation and its findings within the school.
UPDATE
Provost Epps announced Wednesday afternoon that, in the wake of Monday’s report, several steps have been taken within the school to remedy the issues.
“Fox created a new performance analytics unit reporting to Senior Associate Dean Aubrey Kent. The executive director of the new unit is Dr. Barbara Manaka, previously Fox’s director of curriculum management, assessment, teaching and learning”
Provost Epps also outlined the new procedures that will be put in place for future performance analysis within Fox. This includes thorough vetting through multiple staff members and verification by doctors within the school.
Temple will also employ new members in the office of Institutional Research and Assessment, to bolster the processes for all university publications and research programs.
Epps stated that “The above actions represent a substantial commitment of effort and resources. As an institution, we must continually test our established practices and implement additional measures in the future as appropriate.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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