Cornell has established itself as the land-grant university to the world through decades of strong international involvement, Cornell President David Skorton told the Ithaca Rotary Club in a luncheon presentation Feb. 28 at the Holiday Inn in Ithaca, where he also was made an honorary Rotarian.

In discussing Cornell's overseas focus, Skorton said that the university plans to strengthen Cornell's international studies and activities, which, he said, parallel Rotary's tradition of programs that support international exchange and partnership.

Skorton and a Cornell delegation went to India in January to strengthen old partnerships and forge new ones, he said. Some goals of the trip, he noted, were to better understand how Cornell's people and resources might serve India, make Cornell visible in India's governmental, educational and business institutions and enhance alumni connections there.

"This was a life-changing, eye-opening experience for me," Skorton said.

He also pointed to Cornell's "intensely" international flavor, with 3,200 international students from over 120 countries on the Ithaca campus. He added that retention and recruitment of all students from such diverse backgrounds is "enormously" tied to the quality of life that Ithaca offers. In turn, he said, Cornell's international relations create economic and cultural exchanges between central New York, Ithaca and the rest of the world.

Skorton mentioned other international links as well, including plans for an Africa Initiative and a Cornell Institute for European Studies grant of $100,000 from the European Union Commission to help upstate New Yorkers become more familiar with Europe. In addition, Cornell has satellite programs in Doha (Qatar), Singapore, London, Paris, Rome, Tanzania and Puerto Rico.

At the same time, he emphasized, "We have to have a very sharp focus on local issues, as sharp as our focus on international issues. Cornell needs a vibrant Ithaca." He added that Cornell expects to hire as many as 600 new faculty in the next 10 to 15 years as current faculty members retire. A major part of attracting the best young academics and their families is "dependent on a vibrant downtown, Ithaca and Tompkins County," Skorton said.

To help make Cornell more transparent to the Ithaca community, Skorton noted that Cornell Provost Biddy Martin will deliver the first annual Academic State of the University Address on March 7. Also, Skorton's radio program, "Higher Ed in the Round," will premiere March 5 at 7 p.m. on public radio station WEOS-FM (88.1), and will feature a round-table discussion with Ithaca College President Peggy Williams and Tompkins-Cortland Community College President Carl Haynes.

In addition, Skorton mentioned the $3.3 billion dollars in economic activity that Cornell generates for the state, as documented in the February release of the report "Cornell's Economic Impact Statement for New York."