Who is Richard M. Englert, Temple’s new president?
Here's a closer look at President Richard M. Englert, his career at Temple and his prior tenure as president.
Richard M. Englert on Tuesday was appointed president of Temple University for the rest of the academic year.
His appointment follows the sudden death of JoAnne A. Epps, acting president, last week at a university event.
Here’s a closer look at Englert.
» READ MORE: Temple taps Richard M. Englert to serve as temporary president
Where was he born?
Detroit
Where did he go to college?
He got his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. John’s Seminary College in California in 1967 and his master’s in elementary education from Pepperdine University in 1971. He earned his doctoral degree in educational administration in 1976 from the University of California, Los Angeles.
When did he start working at Temple?
He started at Temple in 1976 as an assistant to the dean of the College of Education.
How many different roles did he serve at Temple?
In addition to president, he served in 17 roles over 45 years at Temple, including dean, provost, chancellor, vice president of administration, acting director of intercollegiate athletics, acting chief administrative officer of the School of Podiatric Medicine, and chief of staff to the late president Peter Liacouras.
How long had he been president in the past?
He twice served as acting president, first for six months in 2012 when former leader Ann Weaver Hart left, and again in July 2016 after former president Neil D. Theobald resigned. In 2016, three months after his appointment as acting president, the board gave him the permanent job. He served as president from 2016 to 2021 when he retired, but he still held the title of chancellor and remained active with the university.
What was his previous tenure as president like?
Temple continued to grow under Englert, reaching its peak enrollment of more than 40,000 in 2017. (Enrollment, impacted by the pandemic, fewer high school students nationally, safety concerns and other issues, now stands at 30,530.) The university also saw its first Rhodes scholar, Hazim Hardeman, named in 2017.
But Englert also had to lead through controversy, including the rankings scandal that embroiled Fox Business School. The scandal broke in 2018 and former business school dean Moshe Porat was sentenced in 2022 to 14 months in federal prison for his role in the university’s submitting false data to U.S. News and World Report.
And it was Englert who aptly guided Temple through the first year-and-a-half of the pandemic.
Will he be a candidate for the permanent president’s job?
No.
What’s his family like?
He lives in Cherry Hill with his wife, Eleanor. They have two sons.
What does his wife think about his work at Temple?
Here are a few things Eleanor had to say about his tenure as president, according to a Temple article.
“No matter which job he does, he puts everything into it, he researches it, he works at it. He’s very dedicated to Temple.”
“I’m proud that, even despite the fact that he has to work so hard and has spent so much time with it, he’s still a great father and a great husband.”
“We can be in another country, we could be in England, or Rome, and he always has a Temple outfit on. People will stop and say ‘Oh my father went to Temple!’ or ‘I graduated from Temple!’ no matter where we go.”