After using only a magazine for the past six years to reach out to its alumni and other key audiences, the Temple University College of Education has ramped up its publication schedule. Beginning this year, the college plans on annually producing and distributing a magazine and two EdBulletin newsletters.

The initial 8-page newsletter highlights a lecture by Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford professor who headed Pres. Obama’s 2008 educational policy transition team. Darling-Hammond, who earned her EdD at Temple in 1978, stressed the importance of educational equality for minorities if the U.S. is ever to reverse the decline in its students’ academic achievements. Given its emphasis on improving urban education, that’s a key message for Temple’s College of Education.

Except for one article written by a graduate journalism student, I wrote and/or edited all the copy, including: an interview with the interim dean; profiles; several news items; and profiles of a professor, a staff member and an alumnus.

That last short profile, of Bill Cosby, was particularly enjoyable. Cosby, who owns a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts, left Temple to pursue his wildly successful comedic and acting career before he could complete his degree in physical education. But for years he has been a staunch supporter of Temple University, particularly of the College of Education, to which he has given generously both of his time and his financial support. I had the opportunity to speak with him over the phone about that support.

But I also couldn’t resist revisiting two of my favorite Cosby comedy routines: 1963’s “Noah,” in which God tries to convince a skeptical Noah to build an ark, and 1966’s “The Playground,” in which neighborhood parents turned a “perfectly good playground” littered with bricks, rocks and broken glass into an under-aged killing field by installing monkey bars, a merry-go-round and see-saw. “Oh, yes,” said Cosby, remembering the latter routine perfectly, “When I was a child the grownups were trying to murder us …”

Needless to say, the interview was a joyful pleasure.

Click here to see a PDF of the entire Spring 2012 EdBulletin newsletter.