Dear Students and Colleagues,

It is with excitement that I share that Joshua Steele has been named Temple University's inaugural vice provost for online and digital learning (VPODL) and executive director of Temple Online. Josh will join the Temple community on September 21. This new, university-wide role of VPODL will lead the development, growth and stewardship of our online and digitally enabled academic portfolio.

Currently the associate vice dean of digital learning at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Josh is a nationally recognized expert in online higher education, and he has spent the last 10 years working at large, public research universities like Temple. This new position supports our strategic plan, Forward with Purpose, and our priority of Student Success, especially as we look to redefine access for the 21st century.

Our strategic plan recognizes the need to expand and formalize our online curriculum to better meet students where they are. This is especially true in instances where traditional in-person learning is not an option.

With Josh, we now have the ideal person to help us accomplish this goal and spearhead the launch of Temple Online. At the University of Tennessee, he supported the growth of the university's online undergraduate program offerings from two to 25 in just five years' time. During that same period, he also helped triple the university's fully-online student enrollment to its current total of more than 3,600.

Prior to serving at the University of Tennessee, Josh served as the senior director of Arizona Online at the University of Arizona and later as the Associate Director of Academic Strategies for UF Online at the University of Florida. At Arizona, he helped develop the student support and academic advising infrastructure to support their newly created online undergraduate program. Those foundations helped support Arizona Online’s growth from just over 160 students to the more than 8,000 it serves today.

To learn more about Josh, his background and the experience that he brings to this role, view this Temple Now piece.

Please join me in welcoming Josh to the Temple community. I am eager to see him enhance our presence as a leader in online education.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth A. Wentz
Senior Vice President and Provost