On Monday morning, July 10, David Skorton's Day Hall office was nearly bare: clean white walls, empty bookshelves, subdued olive and beige furniture and the light smell of fresh paint. Just a few personal touches had crept in -- giant subwoofer speakers for listening to music after hours, a bouquet of flowers from friends in Iowa and a stash of Fig Newmans for his desk drawer.

Skorton quickly took up the blank slate of his presidency -- Cornell's 12th -- and started the job of filling it in.

The day began with a request. Before his first scheduled meeting, Skorton asked a staff member for a comprehensive report on campus diversity and how it has changed over time. He plans a thorough look at the issue and emphasized in meetings throughout the week the importance of a diverse campus community.

Then, it was a week of answering questions, from how he sees his role in international diplomacy to whether he will play his sax at ABC Café's open mic night. Through the jumble of topics, he returned often to a few key themes of his administration.

"The number one reason we're here is for the students," he said. He plans to continue former President Hunter Rawlings' legacy of emphasis on undergraduate education. "The totality of the student experience can always be better."

He also will move forward with former President Jeffrey Lehman's call to increase Cornell's global presence and use higher education as a diplomatic tool. To the three strategic initiatives Lehman named -- Life in the Age of the Genome, Wisdom in the Age of Digital Information and Sustainability in the Age of Development -- Skorton says he will add a strengthened emphasis on the arts, social sciences and humanities.

His leadership style will be open and approachable, he said, but decisive when necessary. And, he emphasized the importance of maintaining a strong relationship with community members.

"The community gains a lot from the university, and the university gains a lot from the nature and character of the community," he said. "We are all part of this community."

There were plenty of lighthearted moments. An assortment of Cornell ties Skorton bought on his first day led to four ensuing days of tie jokes and the unfortunate introduction of a feather boa. There were chats about music and dogs, and how many friends Skorton has on Facebook (4,362 at the University of Iowa; 249 at Cornell, at last count). "My son at Stanford has said, 'They're not really your friends, Dad, it's just because you're president,'" he said.

There were the casual interludes to meet the people who work around Day Hall. "Hi, I'm David Skorton, sorry to interrupt you, just wanted to say hi!" he said, peeking his head into tiny cubicles. "We're neighbors. I'm just upstairs."

On his first Saturday after taking office, he was up early for an appearance at the Ithaca Asian American Association's Dragon Boat Festival on the Cayuga Inlet.

Then on July 18, he was in Washington, D.C., for a marathon day of introductions and discussions aimed at forging strong connections with Congressional representatives.

His agenda for that day included sessions with New York U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, U.S. representatives including Randy Kuhl, Sherwood Boehlert, James Walsh, Nita Lowey, Carolyn Maloney, Maurice Hinchey, Lamar Smith, Bob Filner '63 and Mark Kirk '81; and staff from New York Gov. George Pataki's office. The meetings were the first in what will be a vital relationship between Cornell's president and government representatives, said Stephen Philip Johnson, interim vice president for government and community relations.

"The purpose was to meet key Washington contacts to build relationships," said Johnson. Skorton also met with Cornell alumni working on Capitol Hill and with students spending the summer as congressional interns through the Cornell in Washington Program.

Funding for the sciences and humanities was a major topic of discussion, Johnson said, noting that Skorton stressed the importance to Weill Cornell Medical College and the Ithaca campus of student financial aid programs, agricultural research, the National Institutes of Health and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

It was a busy day, said Johnson, and a hot one (97 degrees at 85 percent humidity). But, he added, the day was productive, setting the tone for a solid working relationship in the future.

"David Skorton has a very good communications style," Johnson said. "He's very direct, and he was very well received."

If it all sounds exhausting, daunting or challenging, Skorton agrees: His new job is all those things. But he'll take it -- with gratitude.

"It's a great job. I gotta tell you, this is the best job imaginable," he said.

And just outside his office door, his assistant, Ann Huntzinger, who came to Cornell with Rawlings from the University of Iowa, was one of many to sum up Skorton's arrival with a simple sentiment: "It's good to have him here."