Iowa City Press Citizen, IA
06-02-06
Skorton saying goodbye today
UI leader looks back at tenure
The shelves bare and closet empty in his corner office in Jessup Hall, the only
indication Thursday that David Skorton still was president of the University of
Iowa was a small stack of papers lying on his desk.
Today, those papers will be gone, and movers will be clearing out his house. And
Saturday morning, Skorton, a cardiologist, and his wife, UI associate professor
Robin Davisson, will leave for Ithaca, N.Y.
Today is Skorton's last day at UI after 26 years as a faculty member and
administrator. He took over as president of the school in March 2003.
"It seems unreal that I'm actually leaving," Skorton, 56, said Thursday.
He will become president of Cornell University, an Ivy League school, July 1.
Davisson will join the Cornell faculty with joint appointments as a tenured
professor in biomedical sciences and in cell and developmental biology.
It was an opportunity that was too good for them to pass up, Skorton said, but
he'll leave with mixed feelings because of his love for UI.
Skorton counts among his favorite memories seeing patients, something he still
did as president; collaborating with faculty and staff as a researcher; representing
UI on overseas trips, especially to Asia and Southeast Asia; and his encounters
with students.
Mark Kresowik, former president of UI Student Government, said Skorton was a
"phenomenal" president beloved by students.
"Being incredibly busy, as he is, it was always refreshing to know he'd work for
us," Kresowik said.
On what he could have done better, Skorton said he wished he would have
learned earlier the importance of combining consultation with speed in decision
making.
He also said he regretted the way the Wellmark situation turned out. In 2004,
Skorton said he planned to terminate UI's contract with Wellmark Blue Cross and
Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurance provider. The tense negotiations
that followed contributed to the resignations of three members of the Iowa state
Board of Regents, including board President John Forsyth, who also was CEO of
Wellmark.
"I regret that the regents resigned," Skorton said. "I have great respect for John
Forsyth."
But Skorton said he would do the same thing again because he was representing
what he thought was best for the school. Last summer, UI and Wellmark agreed
to a new contract.
It has been suggested that the fight with Wellmark helped push Skorton out the
door. Less than two months after the Wellmark deal, the regents gave Skorton a
smaller pay raise than his counterparts at Iowa State University and the
University of Northern Iowa, though Wellmark was never mentioned as a reason.
Still, Dr. Richard LeBlond, then president of the UI Faculty Senate, told the
Press-Citizen in January the decision was a "slap in the face" to Skorton.
The regents also have been accused of micromanaging the state's public
universities, and the Legislature's Government Oversight Committee has said it
will hold hearings this summer into whether that is so and if it could have
contributed to Skorton's departure.
Skorton, as he has done repeatedly since announcing his resignation in January,
downplayed the role pay -- he will earn more than double his salary at Cornell -and other issues played in his decision to leave.
He said he enjoyed working with the regents, and he compared the relationship
between the board and the university to that of dance partners: sometimes one
partner leads, and sometimes the other does.
"That dance, it's a subtle thing," he said.
Regent Bob Downer of Iowa City said Skorton's work was greatly appreciated.
"I think that the job that he has done has been absolutely outstanding," he said. "I
have been pleased in every respect with his leadership."
Another issue during Skorton's tenure has been state funding. State
appropriations to UI were cut more than $75 million between fiscal years 2000
and 2005, according to the Regents office. Also, the regent universities received
less new funding this year than they had hoped for.
"I think it's predictable that big-time research universities, like Iowa, are going to
be more on their own than in the past," Skorton said.
Skorton promised not to remain a stranger to Iowa City. His wife is a Cedar
Rapids native, and his son, a Stanford University student, will live in Iowa City
this summer in an apartment.
"I'm sure people say all the time when they leave a place, 'We'll be in touch,'"
Skorton said. "But that really is the case."