The University of Iowa’s president is apparently leaving to take a top job in the Ivy League. Sources say 56-year-old David Skorton is leaving the University of Iowa for Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Skorton has been president of the University of Iowa for nearly three years, although he’s worked at the Iowa City school since 1980.
Skorton, who is a medical doctor, first served as a professor on the university’s medical faculty and is noted for his research on congenital heart defects. He later went into med school and hospital administration, then on to lead all the university’s research efforts before being named its president.
Governor Tom Vilsack issued a statement, thanking Skorton for his service and wishing him well. Vilsack says Skorton “played an integral part in Iowa’s economic growth” as president of the University of Iowa and helped expand health care access to more Iowans.
University of Northern Iowa president Robert Koob plans to retire as soon as the board which governs Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I finds his replacement. Now, that board will start a search for Skorton’s replacement, too.
Former University of Iowa president Hunter Rawlings is serving as interim president of Cornell until Skorton takes over. Rawlings left the U of I in 1995 to become president of Cornell and retired in 2002 but Rawlings was called back when the man who replaced him resigned.