JoAnne Epps: Temple’s New Acting President

Acting president JoAnne Epps has served the Temple community for more than 30 years, and is now stepping into this role less than two weeks after former President Wingard’s resignation. A conference was held at Sullivan hall on Tuesday for her formal introduction. 

JoAnne Epps has been part of the Temple family for nearly four decades. This week, she has officially made her way to the top after being appointed the university’s new acting president. Epps has 15 years of leadership experience under her belt, having served as dean of the Beasley School of Law from 2008 to 2016, then being promoted to Executive Vice President and Provost of the university.

Epps believes her education experience and having a background in law makes her well-suited to contribute & lead the university during her time as acting president. 

“One of the pleasures about being a lawyer, we’re trained to ask what kind of world we might envision, and we can then enlist support to move towards things that we think would make a better world and this is exactly what’s needed here [Temple].” Epps stated in her conference on Tuesday.

Special committee members Jane Scaccetti and Bret Perkins officially introduced Epps as acting president for the first time Tuesday evening, after a unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees. Epps confirmed on Tuesday that she will not be a candidate for permanent presidency.

Although this is only a temporary position, some students are still eager to see her take on this role, “That is a good thing that she has a background in education rather than someone who’s here to make money,” said freshman at Temple, Pat Cosgrove. Senior, Liam Andell, told Temple Update he’s confident in Epps ability to lead, “Epps – she’s already in the building, she must know what’s going on. she’s already been around campus obviously, worked here for however long she’s been here. so i think she could possibly execute the role but like i said, i don’t know much about her.”

cg: Liam Andell, senior

As of now, Epps will serve in her role as Acting President into the fall semester and possibly into summer of 2024. The board of trustees will continue their formal search to appoint her successor for the university.

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