"I'm so proud and very, very humbled to be able to have a chance to be a part of the leadership of this great jewel of international higher education," Skorton said during a press conference at Cornell University on Saturday.
Skorton emphatically denied having reservations about his new post in light of his predecessor's hasty departure. When provoked on the subject, he responded he had "no reservations whatsoever. None. Zero."
He added that he has "the greatest respect for Jeff Lehman."
"He was and always will be a strong academic leader and a man of great distinction," Skorton said.
Lehman, the first Cornell alumnus to serve as president, stepped into office in October of 2003 and departed it less than two years later -- making his presidency the shortest in Cornell's history. In that short time, however, he saw a seventeen percent increase of applications to Cornell, record levels of alumni gifts placing third only to Harvard and Stanford, and the appointment of six new deans.
Without going into specifics about the source of discord, Lehman and the Board of Trustees cited differences in strategy for accomplishing Cornell's long-term vision as what drove Lehman's decision to resign.
"It became clear to me that these were not little things that we could work out," Lehman said in an interview with The Chronicle of Education last June. "At some point, I do have to decide what's best for Cornell."
In the same interview, Lehman dismissed speculation that the Board was unhappy with his handling of controversial local issues. Skorton, however, whom the Board unanimously elected, stressed his plans to strengthen ties with the Ithaca community during the Saturday press conference.
Cornell's 10th president Hunter Rawlings III, a close friend of Skorton's who also previously served as a University of Iowa president, returned to act as interim president after Lehman's resignation. Skorton said that he and Rawlings independently decided communication about the presidency would be inappropriate given their relationship, and did not talk about the topic until recently.
"Frankly, people in Iowa right now are not thinking very well about Cornell, because it seems to be a mine that we continue to invade," Board of Trustees Chair Peter Meinig said during the press conference, eliciting laughter from the crowd.
But despite losing two presidents to Cornell, The University of Iowa community does not hold any ill will toward Skorton or his wife, Dr. Robin Davisson, who will have faculty appointments in the Weill Cornell Medical Center and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Skorton will receive faculty appointments in the Medical Center and the College of Engineering, in addition to his position as president.
"We credit Cornell with recognizing talent," University of Iowa press officer Steven Parrot said. "We wish [Skorton and Davisson] nothing but the best. But at the same time, there's a tremendous sense of loss because both have spent virtually their entire professional careers here. They have helped shape this University and made it one of the best public universities in the country."
Skorton expressed the sense of sadness about leaving Iowa, and referred to Iowa and Cornell Univeristy during the press conference as "kindred spirits," with "robust" balances between sciences and the humanities. Skorton said he made the decision to join Cornell because it was an opportunity that "he did not think would come up in my lifetime and was too good to pass up."
