Coming from sunny California to the current snowy conditions of State College can be quite a change.

But it's no problem for David Shirley, who came to claim his new position as the senior vice president of research and dean of the Graduate School.

"We're looking forward to our second spring here," he quipped.

Shirley began his duties March 4, taking over for recently retired Charles Hosler.

"We have a general goal at Penn State to make this University an even stronger research university," the 57-year-old Shirley said.

Although Shirley said he's too new to pinpoint further goals, one Graduate Student Association member has a slew of ideas for Shirley to address.

"First he has to learn a lot about Penn State," said GSA treasurer Ken Martin, adding that Hosler was an institution unto himself.

And Shirley agreed he has a lot to learn.

He comes from the University of California at Berkeley where he was the former director of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and a chemist, but he never served as the head of a graduate school.

"(Being a dean) gives one a feeling of a great deal of responsibility," he said.

Part of that responsibility is to make graduate students feel at home and comfortable in their environment, Shirley said. Graduate students have special needs because many are married and are beginning their families, he added.

Martin listed the school's demographics as a concern Shirley must also address.

Many older students are returning to graduate school and spousal employment in State College is not easy to find, Martin said. Finding child care and affordable housing also poses problems, he added. And although Shirley may be unable to guarantee affordable housing downtown, those problems must be addressed to recruit students, he added.

Thomas D'Alfonso, outgoing GSA president, said Shirley must also examine teaching loads for teaching assistants. The University needs explicit contracts for TAs so they know exactly how many credits they must teach and receive fair compensation, D'Alfonso said.

At other schools, graduate students have formed unions, which haven't worked out well, D'Alfonso said.

One plan on Shirley's agenda is Penn State's Research Park, which Shirley expects will undergo construction within a year.

The 130-acre park will be located on a newly constructed extension of Park Avenue, past Beaver Stadium. It will include a 50,000-square foot research and development laboratory, a 65,000-square foot technology center and incubator and a 240,000-square foot hotel and conference center.

Shirley dismissed the perception that teaching suffers drastically when research is emphasized.

"I strongly believe (research and teaching) are complementary," he said.

Up to the University level, students learn passively -- as recipients of knowledge, he said. But in the latter stages of higher education, students are expected to play a role in developing new knowledge.

And amid all his ideas and plans, he has worked to acclimate his family to the University area.

"We've moved into our house," he beamed.

The only other change Shirley has noted at Penn State is that the football team is much better here than at Berkeley.

"It will be nice to be in the winning column," he said.

Shirley and his wife, Virginia, have felt very welcome here, he said. And neither minds the sudden deluge of snow -- she hails from Pennsylvania and he is originally from the New England area.

The Shirleys did not make their move with the rest of their family. Four of their children are grown and on their own, while their youngest daughter is a senior at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Shirley wasn't the only one to make adjustments. His wife is a nuclear chemist working on a nuclear data project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Although she is still employed by the University of California, Virginia Shirley is considered an "off-site" employee. Penn State gave her an office on campus and she continues to work, her husband said.

"One fact of Penn State that we've noticed is that people here are very strong supporters of the University and they work together very well," Shirley said.