Suresh Garimella is the new president of the University of Arizona, the Arizona Board of Regents announced Friday morning.
Garimella, now the president of the University of Vermont, will become UA’s 23rd president.
For months, an 18-person committee picked by the regents has searched for a candidate to replace outgoing UA President Robert C. Robbins, who said in April he would leave his post. They came up with just one finalist who agreed to an interview with the regents, which took place earlier Friday.
During an afternoon press conference at the Tucson campus, the incoming UA head said he was “grateful” for the opportunity and called the interview process “very intensive.”
“Throughout my career, I think you’ll see, I’ve had one mission as my primary driving force and that is to serve our students,” he said. “So you will see me focused on students almost too much — more than anything else.”
He added he also believed “deeply in the power of research.”
Garimella will replace an embattled Robbins, who announced in April he would step down at the end of his contract in 2026, or sooner if the regents replaced him. ABOR immediately announced that they would carry out a search for a new UA president.
Embroiled in a series of controversies related to UA’s budget and governance, Robbins was assailed by both university faculty and staff and state leaders such as Gov. Katie Hobbs.
ABOR officials said the choice to make Garimella the next UA president was unanimous.
“I am honored to be chosen by the board as the next president of the University of Arizona,” Garimella said in a statement released by UA officials on Friday morning. “I have long admired the UofA and its stature in the state of Arizona and far beyond. The institution demonstrates the best qualities of a land-grant university with exceptional leadership in research and health sciences, highly acclaimed faculty and staff, and a diverse student population comprised of the best and brightest from around the world. There are tremendous opportunities in front of us and I look forward to collaborating with UofA students, faculty, staff and alumni to build upon our strengths as an institution and continue to lead in excellence here in Tucson and around the world.”
“Dr. Garimella is student-focused and considers himself first and foremost a faculty member. With a 35-year career in higher education, Suresh is engaging, a great listener and a collaborative leader,” said ABOR Chair Cecilia Mata. “Wildcats are part of our state’s DNA and Dr. Garimella has shown he is the right leader at the right time to heal and grow Arizona’s land-grant university.”
Dr. Cindy Rankin, associate professor of physiology and a member of the search committee, said Garimella “stood out” among the prospects.
“He is an internationally known scholar with the temperament and experience to unify our campus, and together capitalize on our uniqueness and strength to reach even greater heights. I’m honored to have been part of this truly collaborative effort to select our next president,” Rankin said.
On Thursday, ABOR officials announced Garimella was the sole candidate set to interview on Friday.
The review committee had “10 finalists, which we narrowed down to five,” said Humberto Lopez, a local apartment and hotel owner who was one of the committee members.
Garimella “was my top choice of all who made the final list,” said the big UA booster, who had remained a supporter of Robbins.
The regents held a special virtual meeting Friday morning to interview Garimella privately. The meeting agenda included the option to vote to move ahead with negotiating a contract to hire him.
Garimella’s ‘bold vision’ at UV
Garimella grew up in central India and earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in mechanical engineering. He was hired in 2019 to run the University of Vermont—a research university in Burlington which serves about 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students and has around 4,000 employees, reported Seven Days, an independent news organization in Vermont. He is a professor of mechanical engineering.
Garimella managed UVM through the COVID-19, and pushed the institution to become a major research institution with a goal of attaining R1 status — a comparison used by the Carnegie to measure how universities prioritize research efforts. Both the UA and Arizona State University are among the 140-some schools recognized as R1 institutions.
Under Garimella’s leadership, the University of Vermont admitted the largest first-year class in its history, raised its profile and brought in millions more in research funding, reported Seven Days.
Garimella has led UVM with “bold vision and thoughtful financial discipline,” ABOR said in a statement Thursday, crediting him with doubling the university’s research efforts and strengthening “state and community relationships.
“Dr. Garimella is celebrated in higher education for his innovative leadership, his profound commitment to the land-grant mission, and an exceptional record of putting students first,” said ABOR. “During his time as president at the University of Vermont, Dr. Garimella stabilized tuition and spearheaded a scholarship program similar to the Arizona Promise Program, providing a tuition-free education for lower-income Vermont students.”
Before becoming the head of UVM, he was the executive vice president of research and partnerships, and a distinguished professor at Purdue University.
“The University of Vermont is aware that President Garimella is a finalist for the presidency at the University of Arizona, a prominent public land-grant university,” Adam White, a spokesperson for that school said in an emailed statement to VT Digger, an independent news organization in Vermont.
UA President Robbins’ base salary was $816,008, and he was given perks for housing and a transportation allowance, however, in March he asked ABOR to reduce his pay by 10 percent. ABOR agreed and reduced his salary to $734,407, and he took cuts to conditional compensation worth another $270,000 in total.
Garimella’s base salary at UVM was $509,331, as of November, according to university documents, reported VT Digger.
On Wednesday, ABOR held a special meeting, but did not announce Garimella’s interview for Friday, raising questions about the transparency of the board’s process as they’ve narrowed down the search to a single candidate.
During that meeting the board tapped Chad Sampson to become ABOR’s executive director, replacing John Arnold who came to the UA to manage its financial woes. In June, Arnold was given a permanent position at the UA becoming its chief operating officer, a position created in the wake of the UA’s struggles to manage its finances under Robbins’ leadership.
ABOR said the UA’s search committee met “numerous times over the last five months vetting all prospects against the feedback provided by the community.”
The committee held 19 “listening tour sessions” as well as meetings, three public town halls, and ran a campus-wide survey that included responses from more than 4,200 students, employees and community members, ABOR said.
“The board and search committee were impressed by the exceptional caliber of prospects aspiring to lead the University of Arizona into a new era of excellence,” said ABOR Chair Cecilia Mata in a press release Thursday. “After a thorough search process, Dr. Garimella displays the visionary leadership qualities, and a record of distinguished scholarship necessary to lead the U of A into its next chapter.”
During the Friday afternoon event introducing Garimella, Prof. Joellen Russell, a geosciences faculty member who sat on the presidential search committee thanked ABOR for choosing a president who “shares our values.” That Garimella comes from another land-grant university “given we’ve had our share of troubles is extraordinary” and “deeply delightful,” she said.
“Thank you to all of those responsible for giving me this opportunity,” Garimella said. “And I don’t take it lightly. It’s an awesome responsibility, and I look forward to working with all of you to make the most of it.
When asked about the UA’s financial troubles, Garimella said he believed in the “financial turn-around” already in process by former president Robbins, new CFO John Arnold, and ABOR.
As the press conference came to a close, Garimella was presented with a gift — a football jersey with his name and the number 24 on the back, referring to the year.
“I’m very optimistic” he said. “I think that we will accomplish the financial turn-around in a short time, and I hope we will look back on this as a brief sort of moment in time.”
Robbins—the UA’s president since 2017—was contracted to serve through June 30, 2026. ABOR launched a national search with the help of SP&A Executive Search, running a series of town halls and a survey to nail down the requirements for the next UA leader.
Robbins undoing began last November when then-Chief Financial Officer Lisa Rulney told ABOR the university faced a “financial crisis” and its model of cash on hand was off by around $240 million, under-projecting total operating expenses by around $155 million.
Robbins later warned of “draconian” cuts, warning the Faculty Senate there were just 97 days of cash on hand, far shorter than the 156 days it expected by the end of the fiscal year in June. ABOR’s mandated buffer is 140 days. By April, Robbins and other leaders announced the forecast deficit had shrunk.
In what Robbins called “encouraging news” in an email to students and staff, he said that “at this point in the budget planning process, I am pleased to announce the university is projecting that the FY 2025 budget deficit will be reduced from $162 million down to $52 million.’
Garimella’s bio and curriculum vitae are available here.
Robbins endured, until he didn’t
In 2019, Robbins tripped his way into one of his first controversies when he attempted to
relate to students with Native Students Outreach Access and Resiliency
by telling them he took a DNA test to prove Cherokee ancestry. Students
with SOAR criticized Robbins for his comments and he apologized.
Years
later, his leadership faced its harshest test when a former graduate
student shot and killed Prof. Thomas Meixner on campus in 2022.
For
more than a year before the shooting, faculty, staff and students
reported to UA administrators and campus police their concerns about the former student, who sent threatening emails and was expelled from the
university due to his behavior. UA professors and staff with the Hydrology
Department later said they “felt like sitting ducks” in the face of
violent threats and a stream of racist, antisemitic and homophobic
messages.
Despite those many red flags, and an attempt by one professor to take out an order against harassment, little was done.
After
the shooting, UA leadership was blasted by the campus community. The
Faculty Senate declared “no confidence” in Robbins and his administration, and fallout from the shooting led to the
resignation of the University of Arizona Police Department chief and
the UA provost.
During a press conference in March 2023, Robbins
admitted there were a series of systemic failures including “missed
opportunities and mistakes” that ultimately led to Meixner’s killing.
‘Draconian cuts’
Robbins final undoing began in November, when then-Chief Financial Officer Lisa Rulney told ABOR the
university faced a “financial crisis” and its model of cash on hand was
off by around $240 million, under-projecting total operating expenses by
around $155 million.
Robbins later warned of “draconian” cuts, warning the Faculty Senate there were just 97 days of cash on hand,
far shorter than the 156 days it expected by the end of the fiscal year
in June. ABOR’s mandated buffer is 140 days.
“I did know we were
spending money, but I thought we had reserves to spend money on. But
this is a big miscalculation,” Robbins said last year. The UA
immediately implemented a hiring freeze, a halt on raises for UA
employees, as well
as restrictions on travel and hard limits on purchases.
Questions
remain about how Robbins lost control of the UA’s budget, and why
Rulney’s analysis came just as Robbins celebrated the “Fuel Wonder”
campaign when he announced the UA managed to secure more than $2 billion
in a $3 billion fundraising push — a striking juxtaposition that
highlighted the differences between the UA’s operations and its
endowments.
Robbins
later announced Rulney had resigned from her position, thanking her for
leading the UA through the pandemic and writing that he wished “her
well.”
However, reporters discovered Rulney remained on the UA
payroll at the behest of John Arnold, the interim chief financial
officer. Robbins referred to the reporting as “a lot of conversation”
and admitted Ruleny was still on staff in an “advisory” role through
June 30.
Weeks
later, Robbins sacked UA Athletics Director Dave Heeke and replaced him
with former softball coach Mike Candrea.
Robbins and other
leaders later said the UA faced a $177 million structural deficit, and
would seek consolidations and layoffs, as well as across-the-board cuts
of 5 to 15 percent.
A former cardio-thoracic surgeon, Robbins couldn’t help himself at times but to
talk about the UA’s budget as a patient on the table. In November, he quipped “all bleeding always stops eventually.”
In January,
he told reporters he was “committed” to stay at the UA as part of his
10-year contract and took full responsibility for the UA’s financial
problems. “As I said earlier, from getting the right diagnosis, and now
through the treatment plan. I’m absolutely confident that we all want
the same thing, we want the university to be even greater than it is.”