Dr Suresh Garimella, UVM's 27th President. UVM's classes, and Garimella's first semester leading the university, begins Monday, August 26. Photo by Andy Duback.
by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Inevitably Dr Suresh Garimella can be and will be compared to his two predecessors, who are vastly different themselves. All three of these University of Vermont presidents have different academic backgrounds, while of course being highly accomplished. Dan Fogel (2002-2011) is a presence in any room he enters and is someone with a towering intellect. Tom Sullivan (2012-2019) is cool, efficient, lawyerly and, as it turns out, a phenomenal fundraiser.
Garimella, who took over July 1, is more casual than either and quick with a quip. He clearly enjoys engaging with the press and has an easy touch with anyone he meets.
During his first press conference as the sole finalist for the job last winter, he said, “Everyone falls in love with me.” While he said it as something of a joke, it might be close to the truth.
He also looks a little bit like Omar Sharif.
Garimella’s focus clearly and necessarily will be different than his predecessors. Fogel had to get the university back on its feet after it struggled for several years with uneven leadership. He did that.
Sullivan solidified the academic standing, focused UVM more on STEM and the medical school and put in motion a large capital campaign.
With much of the capital plans funded and complete or headed in that direction, Garimella seems intent on focusing on the student experience and student success: Quality of education; academic offerings.
It all sounds like a great opportunity for students and for Garimella.
“The enrollment story at UVM is quite good,” he said at the beginning of July. “We’ve exceeded our targets in enrollment.”
Along with that is affordability and accessibility, he said. Despite the sticker price and UVM’s reputation of being a costly state school for in-state students, 40 percent of Vermont students pay no tuition and increases in tuition have been kept relatively low, he said.
Given his background, Garimella is interested in ratcheting up the research side of the university experience. He sees UVM’s strength as a triptych: Liberal arts; STEM; medical school.
He acknowledges fiscal prudence will be crucial to the university’s success. He took some umbrage with the notion, suggested by a VBM reporter, that a college president should be largely, if not firstly, a salesman for the college.
But it’s true. And he knows it.
Many of the questions from the July 1 press conference, which he handled alone, again like his first interview last winter, were about money and affordability for Vermont students and then about the recent success of the university.
“There’s a lot to be cheering about, “ Garimella said, UVM has great support from the alumni with many strategies for success.
But it will look different. The alumni acknowledge that the college experience and expectations for today’s students are profoundly different from the ones they had.
But not lesser. UVM has a “very engaged community,” he said, “I see that as a plus.”
So, why UVM?
“I was at Purdue a long time,” blessed with many opportunities. UVM has many similarities and many plusses: Ag school, med school, engineering, he said.
“That means a lot to me.”
“The faculty are very engaged.”
“The alumni are very excited and happy.”
“The setting is great.”
He noted the Vermont mystique.
“I feel very optimistic.”
He’s already engaged with the students, immediately in fact. He’s sat and had lunch, hung out in the dorms. You can imagine him working his charm and easy repartee. This clearly will be a strength and a difference from his esteemed predecessors.
Garimella said he also is looking forward to engaging with staff: “I’m happy to learn a lot from them.”
He’s clearly proud of his academic achievement. And who wouldn’t be? He mentioned his 65-page curriculum vitae, his education at all the best schools from India to California. And his scholarship, awards and academic postings.
The mission of the Land Grant University was a very important selling point to Garimella when he was looking for his next professional opportunity. The Morrill Act to create the land grants in 1862 was named for Vermont Congressman Justin Morrill and enacted by President Lincoln.
And being a university president is a big deal. Readers should not underestimate that.
As for ongoing issues beyond finances, diversity has been at the top of the list at UVM.
Garimella said the university has done quite well in creating a diverse campus despite a state that struggles with the same.
“I’m thinking there’s been a fair amount of change brought about.”
He himself brings a little bit of a lilt from India.
“Everyone should be welcomed and valued.”
Words formulate into action, he said.
He believes UVM should engage with the community and offer access to the university.
UVM president Suresh Garimella, left, speaks with Mike Austin, the university's director of systems architecture, inside the Vermont Advanced Computing Core, UVM’s supercomputer on August 1. The DeepGreen cluster, which increased the supercomputer’s speed by a factor 200, is the vertical green array to the right. It is also among the fastest 100 supercomputers at any US university. See STORY. VBM photo
“Burlington is like Berkeley. Except cleaner.”
He has a brother and sister.
They were fortunate with their parents, he said.
“They left us with a great education.”
Sports provide another great experience for students. It plays an important role, he said. “It expands opportunities for our students.”
The new arena (UVM recently broke ground on a $95 million multi-purpose athletic center) not only provides opportunities for the sports department but for the overall wellness experience of the student body, he said.
It also helps in recruiting not only students who participate in the Division 1 sports but also for the general student body. It also engages alumni support. It’s associated with academic excellence as it draws true student athletes.
When making any decision, Garimella said he must ask, “What will serve our students better?”
The selection of a new provost was a big issue and the faculty were not happy with how former Provost David Rosowsky ran the office. The Arts and Sciences faculty passed a resolution of no confidence in him in 2018. Rosowsky stepped away earlier this year to give the new president a clean slate.
Garimella kept the job in-house with the selection of Patricia Prelock.
“I love Patty Prelock.” His first hire. She had been the Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
He has met many of the faculty, naturally. Still, he was surprised by some of the blowback by the search committee’s single-finalist strategy. This is typical of academic hiring now because of the compromising position it puts multiple finalists, who are then hung out to dry if they didn’t get the job.
Garimella said he’s felt their pain firsthand in the past. Being a sole finalist means you are the only choice once the selection process gets to the public stage.
While he was an engineering professor for 30 years, he isn’t here to solve a problem, as engineers are typically charged to do, he said, because there truly aren’t many big problems here to solve.
Undoubtedly some will reveal themselves.
On a personal level, he grows roses. He doesn’t ski. Not alpine anyway. He moved into the recently renovated presidential house immediately and has the boxes to prove it. He hikes and looks athletic.
At the conclusion of his first press conference, he said to the media crammed into his office: “I thank you for sharing this important day in my life.”
The press can be purposefully distant, but there’s little doubt he was sincere in saying that.
In the job he recently left, Dr Suresh Garimella was Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships and the Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. Previous administrative experience at Purdue University included appointments as the Chief Global Affairs Officer and as the Associate Vice President for Engagement.
In 2010, the US Department of State appointed Garimella as a Jefferson Science Fellow to serve as a Science Advisor in the International Energy Office. He also served for six years as a Senior Fellow in the State Department’s Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas, and as the State Department delegate to the International Energy Agency.
Garimella has a long list of honors and awards, including appointment as a member of the National Science Board. He is co-author of over 500 publications and 13 patents.
Garimella earned his PhD at the University of California Berkeley, his MS from the Ohio State University, and a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.