On the evening of January 21, as the Lynah Faithful performed their pregame rituals before that night's contest with Clarkson, a red carpet was rolled onto the ice. Interim President Hunter Rawlings strolled out with his wife, Elizabeth, followed by another couple. Rawlings hailed the capacity crowd and then introduced the man standing at his side: David Skorton, who had been appointed Cornell's twelfth president earlier that day. Rawlings presented Skorton and his wife, Robin Davisson, with Big Red hockey jerseys, and team captain Matt Moulson '06 shook the new president's hand. (Davisson got a hug.) Skorton then took the microphone. "The only thing my wife and I can say," he proclaimed, "is Let's Go Red!"More than 3,000 voices roared in response.

For Skorton, it was a triumphant close to a long day that had included a meeting with the Board of Trustees, a press conference, a luncheon with local dignitaries, and get-togethers with faculty, staff, and student leaders. It also concluded a difficult period in the University's history that had begun on the morning of June 11, 2005, when President Jeffrey Lehman '77 announced his resignation. A period of uncertainty followed, and the lack of a coherent explanation for Lehman's disagreements with the Board of Trustees generated rumors and recriminations. But the announcement of Skorton's appointment--a well-guarded secret until the day before--seemed to clear the air. It was, as President Emeritus Frank Rhodes said, "a new day for Cornell."

Skorton, who will assume office on July 1, comes to Cornell from the University of Iowa, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1980 and president since 2003. Trained as a cardiologist, he is the son of a Belarussian immigrant who sold shoes, first in Milwaukee--where Skorton was born--and later in Los Angeles. He is the first member of his family to complete college, initially enrolling at UCLA and then transferring to Northwestern, where he earned both his undergraduate and MD degrees. After completing his residency and a cardiology fellowship at UCLA, Skorton was hired as an instructor by the University of Iowa, where he was the co-founder and co-director of the Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Clinic and a researcher in cardiac imaging and computer image processing.He will hold three appointments at Cornell, in biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering on the Ithaca campus and in both pediatrics and internal medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

Skorton got his start in university administration thanks to Rawlings, who also served as president of the University of Iowa before coming to the Hill; Rawlings named Skorton Iowa's vice president for research in 1992. Skorton later added the duties of vice president for external relations before becoming president. At Iowa, he is known not only as an advocate for the health sciences and medical research but as a fervent supporter of the arts and humanities--not surprisingly, perhaps, as he is an accomplished musician who plays the saxophone and flute and has hosted a Sunday-night Latin jazz radio program in Iowa.

Skorton was married to Robin Davisson in 2004. A native Iowan, Davisson earned her undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa; after completing postdoctoral work at Iowa, she joined the faculty and currently serves as an associate professor of anatomy and cell biology and radiation oncology in the College of Medicine. Her research has focused on high blood pressure and other vascular disorders. Like her husband, Davisson will hold multiple appointments at Cornell, in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Weill Cornell. In her spare time, Davisson pursues the fiber arts, spinning and dying her own yarn, and she shares many interests with her husband, including haiku and vegetarian cuisine. The couple has traveled extensively, and in August 2005 co-authored an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal about visa problems encountered by international students in the post- 9/11 United States.

Four days after Skorton's appointment was announced, I traveled to the presidential residence on the campus of the University of Iowa, where I sat down for a wide-ranging talk with Cornell's next president, whose current reading includes medical journals, a history of the Middle East, and Carol Kammen's 2003 history of the University, Glorious to View. (Oh . . . and on the night of January 21, the Big Red hockey team defeated Clarkson, 4-2.Maybe it's a good omen.)

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Why did you think this job was a good fit for you? What was most appealing about coming to Cornell?

Cornell has some attributes that are, if not unique, at least quite unusual. It's a distinguished institution with a very, very proud history of academic excellence. And the balance among disciplines is not something you find in every place. Cornell is strong in the life sciences, strong in the physical and mathematical sciences, and strong in the humanities. Added to that is the landgrant mission--the public service orientation. Coming out of public higher education, first at UCLA and then at Iowa, it's been a constant in my life to think of looking outward from the university and doing something for the community. It's easy to say, but it's hard to do.We've made some progress at Iowa, and I'm optimistic that I can participate in progress at Cornell as well.

Aside from the public service orientation,what do you think are the most important similarities between Iowa and Cornell?

For one thing, the strength across disciplines. Iowa is a place with a prominent health sciences center and a prominent space science program, like Cornell, but it also has a strong writing program-- many say the strongest in the country. Being a big institution in a small town is another similarity. After my first interview for this opportunity, I did one of those Google news alerts, and every day, seven days a week, I saw what was coming out about Cornell. One of the things I noticed was town/gown issues. I was also gratified to see that there has been a thrust of interest in the undergraduate experience at Cornell, with the Residential Initiative and other programs. At Iowa we've also been trying to refocus on the undergraduate experience. Another thing is the pride in the legacy of being open and egalitarian in the admissions process. Iowa was established in 1847, and it was said to be the first university in the country to admit men and women on equal footing. And Cornell, of course, by the words of the founder as well as its actions, also has that legacy. The concept that a school would not be just for the elite is very, very appealing to me.

As a physician, was it important that you would be able to have a position at the medical school as well as in Ithaca?

Actually, I knew more about the medical college than any other part of Cornell. [Medical College Dean] Tony Gotto has been an icon for me for a long time. He's one of the pillars of international cardiology. So that was appealing, yes. Since I've been involved in university administration, I've been less involved in day-to-day medical care than I used to be. I won't be able to have a practice at Weill Cornell, but I'd love to have the opportunity to do teaching rounds.

In your meetings with the search committee, how much did they explain to you about the reasons behind Jeff Lehman's resignation, and how did you feel about that?

They didn't bring it up. I brought it up. Jeff Lehman was not a close friend of mine, but he's a colleague and I have great respect for him. He's a thoughtful man. And like many other university presidents, I was impressed and heartened by his Call to Engagement. But I started out with the idea that things happen that are unpredictable, and so I offered, as I recall, that I wasn't interested in trying to find out anything more about it. I'm an old warhorse in terms of academic administration, and if you show me a complex organization like Cornell and tell me there aren't any problems or conflicts, I'm going to say that you just aren't seeing them. I don't mean to sound like I'm putting my head in the ground, but I thought that if I got the opportunity to become president, I was going to have to start from day one and go forward.

The members of the Board of Trustees whom I met during the process seemed to be open, direct, straightforward people who had the interests of the institution at heart. The feeling I got was that they are emotionally and intellectually committed to the good of the institution. I know that Jeff Lehman is emotionally and intellectually committed to the good of the institution.Why it is or how it is that they disagreed and came to whatever decision they came to, I don't know. I think it's possible for reasonable people to disagree and to part company on issues great and small. That did not give me pause.

One more thing: I'm the sort of person who will seek advice from those who've been there longer than me, which is everybody on that campus. I will seek advice from Dale Corson--I already have. I will seek advice from Frank Rhodes--I already have. I will seek advice from Hunter Rawlings--I already have. And I will seek advice from Jeff Lehman as well. I've got no reason to think that with good will we can't move forward. I'm also not so naïve as to think that there won't be issues about which I'll disagree with people. But I'm confident that we can talk about anything.

The dynamic between Jeff Lehman and the Board obviously fell apart. Isn't there a danger that if you don't know what happened, something similar could happen to you?

There is always a chance of disagreement, and in fact I'm used to a shared leadership process in which I'm surprised if people don't disagree on major issues. My style has been to meet on a regular basis with the faculty leadership, the staff leadership, and the student leadership, and not to make any major decisions, including budgetary decisions, without talking things out. I believe that people ought to mix it up--and if they should mix it up anywhere, they should mix it up at universities. I can't wait to hear the different opinions at Cornell. I can't wait to get into the actual issues.

Jeff Lehman said Cornell should be a "transnational university." Do you agree with that?

I very much subscribe to that idea. In the summer of last year, Robin and I went as a delegation of two to Southeast Asia.We visited with the leaders of universities in Indonesia,Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore.We were mostly interested in trying to use student and faculty exchange as a mechanism for interaction with the Islamic world.We had a fantastic visit.

One of the attractive things about Cornell is that it has had a big footprint in the world for a long time. Jeff focused on that, and I will continue to push that concept.Having said that, I anticipate that, especially at the beginning of my time as president, I will be staying on campus-- on the two campuses-- learning about Cornell. The University has many other potential ambassadors besides me--faculty, staff, students, and other administrators--and my style will probably be to get some of them out there.

At the press conference, you said that you hadn't talked to Hunter Rawlings about the job until after the search committee contacted you.Weren't you curious to know what he thought?

I think we both felt that it was better for us not to have a lot of contact. At first, I wondered, Gosh, would they look at the same school again? I remember asking Hunter about that. He's such a careful, ethical man, and he just said, "Well, we'll see." But we didn't really have much contact.

As the head of a public university, you've had to work with your state government and deal with funding cuts in recent years.At this point, how much have you been able to learn about Cornell's relationship with New York State?

I'm not an expert in New York State finances. But I can tell you that the revenue problems of the states in the early twentyfirst century have been almost ubiquitous. Now, this may not be the most popular thing to say as an incoming university president, but I've said it here many times and you might as well know me: States have their ups and downs, and when their economies improve, the claim of human services on those dollars is just as valid as the claim of education. Those are usually the two largest components of state spending--human services and education. I've always thought it was not right for higher education leaders to complain about downturns in state funding that are related to actual revenue problems.When we are faced with state budgetary cuts, we need to make our case as strongly and convincingly as possible about the value that we bring--by qualitative arguments and by quantitative arguments, like economic impact studies. At the same time, we have to develop our own independent revenue streams. Cornell does this by having generous alumni and friends, by grant funding, and by tuition. I can't imagine that, in what I hope will be a long tenure at Cornell, I won't see times of better public revenue and times of worse public revenue. I think our responsibility is to show the value that we offer, and at the same time show that we're doing everything we can to deal with growth in our own fashion. I can't wait to get to know the New York legislators and the governor, and to do the best I can to make our case.

Did you get to meet any of the local government leaders when you were in Ithaca?

Just in passing. The mayor of Ithaca seemed like an engaged and gracious person, and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better. There are problems that the University cannot solve on its own and the community cannot solve on its own. Here in Iowa, I've invited members of the city council to come and meet with the administration, and I've had regular meetings with the mayor of Iowa City. I've had a chance to interact with business leaders, and I've had a chance to go to social events and meet with the people who live in the town and depend on the university not only for employment but for entertainment and cultural outreach.

One of the biggest issues between Cornell and the city has to do with the University's growth and its impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.

That's similar to what's happened here, and I'll tell you what my approach has been. I wouldn't claim that it's always been extremely successful, but I think the people in town need to be given a good idea of what the university is planning. If you're planning things way out in the future and your plans are not solid, I'm not sure they should be made public. But let's say there is a definite intention to move in a certain geographical direction or to build something that would affect traffic patterns and parking. Isn't it our responsibility to give notice, not only in the legal sense but in the "good neighbor" sense?

I also have to say this: In my thirteen years of being in the administration of a big university in a small town, I've found that the most dispiriting thing that happens is when people are given to believe that a decision will be based on consultation when there's no way that it will be. I come from an orientation where I believe that the vast majority of decisions should be consultative and people are not only heard but know that what they are saying will actually have an effect. But there are some decisions that are not going to be consultative in nature, and it's disingenuous to pretend they are.

Cornell hasn't had a master plan, although I understand that one is being developed. Do you think that will help with town/gown relations?

The thing about master planning at universities is that some things can be planned decades in advance and some must be opportunistic, in the best sense of the word. For example, the nation puts an emphasis on biomedical research, so Cornell and other universities decide to have an ambitious life sciences initiative. But things may change. I remember the changes in the morale of the high-energy physics community some years ago when the federal investment ended for the Superconducting Super Collider project. Master planning is extremely important, but the plan has to be a living document. It's important to have regular, predictable interactions between the planners on campus and in town.We would have found it very hard to administer this campus without that--which is not to say that we agreed on everything. But the communication is so important.

You just wrapped up a $1 billion capital campaign at Iowa, and now you're going to plunge into one at Cornell that will have an even more ambitious goal.What are the main challenges for you, as president, in leading such an effort?

The greatest challenge is to learn a lot about Cornell in a short period of time, although certain things are of common character, so my learning curve will not be too long. Representing and communicating on behalf of the university is the main thing that a president does in a campaign--letting people know the good news about the university, letting alumni and friends and potential investors know that I'll be honest enough to tell them when there are problems and what we're doing to try to solve them. I don't think it's helpful to pretend that everything is perfect. It also means knowing enough about the trends in higher education to understand when there will likely be a return on investment.

But I guess the most important thing is for me to be a credible witness on behalf of the University, when everybody is going to know that I don't have a long history with the place. I've already begun to communicate with those who are leading that effort, asking them to teach me some of the things I need to know. I'm impressed with the major themes of the campaign, and I believe that some of those themes were the work of Jeff Lehman during his presidency. I did have one concern, which is that I'd like to see a thrust on the arts and humanities. I think the humanities are the soul of the university. It's very, very important to me, for three reasons. One is because I come from an arts background, as an aspiring musician--one who's still aspiring. Secondly, my interests include literature and poetry.My wife and I have many poetry books--lots of haiku.We write haiku together. And the third reason is that the public doesn't invest enough in the arts and humanities. During the 104th Congress, the endowment budgets were savaged.

The first thing I did when I became president here was to declare the "Year of the Arts and the Humanities"--which is not to say that that was the only year where we were going to give a darn, but to say that raising the profile of these disciplines and celebrating them publicly is important. If you look at the publications that come from research universities, what we celebrate is mostly the sciences--it's cures for cancer, life sciences, physical sciences, space science. And why not? Those are fabulous things. But don't we also act as the major centers of public culture in this country? Why shouldn't we get out there and celebrate that, raise money for it, spend money on it, and keep it robust?

Cornell has been a proud place for the humanistic disciplines throughout its history.Why wouldn't we do our best to have our alumni and friends support that as far into the future as the eye can see? I'm very, very committed to doing that, and to reallocating money internally to whatever needs to be done.

As your term as president is about to begin,what one message would you like to send to Cornell alumni?

I think it will be the same message now as it will be ten years from now, if I'm still honored enough to be the president then. And that will be to say that you alumni have the greatest stake in the University, that you have one foot that will never leave Ithaca or New York City, and you have a perspective that comes from being out in the world before, during, and after your time at Cornell. I need your advice and criticism. An occasional pat on the back would be great, too. So be in touch with me. Let me hear from you directly and through the people who work with me. I need your help. That will be the message, now and forever.