The Department of Theater will move into the Boyer College of Music and Dance, and the Department of Film and Media Arts will move into the Klein College of Media and Communication.
The realignment of the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts comes ahead of Temple opening the Caroline Kimmel Pavilion for Arts and Communication, the new home for the Klein and Boyer colleges.
Photo courtesy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
One of the initiatives outlined in Temple University’s strategic plan, Forward with Purpose, is an increased focus on educational outcomes, directly supporting the plan’s keystone priority of student success. Focusing on outcomes requires consideration of how academic programs can be adapted to better prepare graduates for an ever-changing professional landscape.
Today, the university took a step forward in its commitment to ensuring the best possible educational outcomes for its students.
Temple announced that the programs within the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts (TFMA) will be realigned into the Klein College of Media and Communication and the Boyer College of Music and Dance beginning in Fall 2027. Specifically, the Department of Theater will move into the Boyer College, and the Department of Film and Media Arts (FMA) will move into the Klein College, which is where it previously resided prior to the founding of TFMA. In recognition of the Department of Theater joining the Boyer College, the college’s formal name will now be the Boyer College of Music, Dance and Theater.
The plan was formally approved during the public session of the Oct. 14 meeting of the university’s Board of Trustees.
“The media and entertainment industry has changed considerably in recent years, and this decision directly supports the strategic plan and our commitment to ensuring our students are set up for meaningful post-graduation success,” Temple President John Fry said.
To that point, Film and Media Arts joining Klein aligns with the intersections of film, television and video, better preparing students for the career opportunities of today and tomorrow. Theater joining Boyer creates a powerful nexus of the performing arts. All students, in their new homes, will have more pathways to professional opportunities and internships.
These changes also come at an important time for the university as next fall, Temple will open the Caroline Kimmel Pavilion for Arts and Communication, the new home for the Klein College and some programs in the Boyer College. The building, which sits right along Broad Street, will advance arts and culture at Temple and strengthen Philadelphia’s reputation as a world-class city for the arts.
The state-of-the-art, 210,000-square-foot facility will build bridges between the academic and professional worlds through its cutting-edge technology, modern rehearsal and performance spaces, collaborative learning environments and dynamic media production facilities.
“This is an exciting path forward for our Department of Theater and our Department of Film and Media Arts,” said Temple Provost and Senior Vice President Elizabeth Wentz. “We believe that these changes will better serve our students, respond to profound changes in the media and entertainment industries, and align our resources in preparation for the opening of the new Kimmel Pavilion for Arts and Communication."
“We at Klein could not be more excited to have our talented and committed colleagues in the Department of Film and Media Arts join us,” said David Boardman, dean of the Klein College and Temple’s chief strategy officer. “With our spectacular new facility and our expanded faculty and staff, this will be the best place in the country to pursue these disciplines.”
Klein already has curriculum focused on television, video, audio and live-event production, areas that will dovetail with the programs in FMA, and operates Temple University Television. This week, in fact, Klein students were in New York City to collect the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for the nation’s best college television newscast.
The changes also come ahead of the formal opening of Terra Hall, which will become Temple’s permanent Center City campus when it opens its doors in fall 2027. The Boyer College will have a strong presence at Terra as the college’s Dance Department, music technology program and Music Preparatory Division is expected to eventually relocate there. Boyer has also recently entered into partnerships with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts and Opera Philadelphia. Terra Hall’s performance spaces could provide opportunities for the Department of Theater, as well.
“The new organization will offer our students and faculty additional opportunities to work collaboratively across similar areas of study,” said Robert Stroker, dean of the Boyer College and vice provost of the arts. “This is especially impactful for our theater program as joining Boyer unifies the live performing arts programs within one college. Theater students will have a broader range of performance opportunities as they collaborate and share stages, practice and performance spaces, and costume, scene and prop shops.”
It is important to emphasize that for this year and next, all of the academic programs in TFMA will continue as usual. Any future curricular changes will be guided by faculty and administrators in the two colleges for implementation in academic year 2028-29 and beyond. University leadership will be reaching out directly about the next steps in this process in the near future.
“Faculty input will be critical to this process,” Wentz said. “We are eager to work alongside them to help make this transition as seamless as possible, while continuing to keep students and their success at the center of all we do.”
