Before he was selected to lead the University of Arizona, Suresh Garimella wrote that he would work to provide "long-term financial vigor" while helming the university.
Garimella added that, as president of the UA, he would "work diligently to gain a deep understanding of the financial outlook, and collectively plan a pathway to sustainability and growth" amid its financial crisis.
The Arizona Daily Star has obtained the four-page letter Garimella wrote to SP&A Executive Search in June of this year, expressing his interest in the UA presidency.
Suresh Garimella, incoming UA president
Garimella, current president of the University of Vermont, was announced as the sole finalist for the UA presidency this August. His contract was approved later that month, with an annual base salary of $810,000. He is set to begin Oct. 1.
UA President Robert C. Robbins announced in April that he would resign, saying he would stay on until his successor was named, or until June 2026 when his contract formally ends. His announcement came after many faculty, staff, students and community members blamed him for the university’s budget deficit.
Earlier this year, the UA announced it was facing a $177 million deficit. The UA's projected fiscal year 2025 deficit is "conservatively projected" at $65 million.
Garimella's letter, dated June 13, made multiple mentions of university finance, including his work to diversify revenue streams and "secure long-term financial sustainability" both at Purdue University and the University of Vermont.
Additionally, Garimella wrote that the UA will need a "continued diversification of its financial resource streams from private philanthropy, foundations, partnerships with national labs, corporations and federal grants, so that the endowment may continue to grow and provide long-term financial vigor."
Garimella also wrote about campus culture, something that the UA, like other universities and colleges, has struggled with over the past year amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
There were two pro-Palestinian protest encampments at the UA in the spring, featuring arrests, tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets.
"Fostering a healthy campus climate, balancing the freedom to express oneself and the need for doing so with mutual respect and civility, is an issue with which every university is grappling today," Garimella wrote, later adding that "every chance to shape the national conversation through public speaking, writing and social media is an opportunity."
For most of the letter, Garimella wrote about his qualifications for the role, highlighting his time as executive vice president for research and partnerships at Purdue and as president of the University of Vermont.
"My experiences in executive leadership and as an active researcher and passionate educator position me well for this role," he wrote. "At both Purdue and UVM, I have helped build strategic partnerships with corporations, alumni, foundations and state and federal governments in the US and overseas to diversify our revenue streams and secure long-term financial sustainability."
Garimella pointed to the doubling of research support at UVM during his presidential tenure and the first increase in 14 years in base appropriations from the state of Vermont.
UVM, he continued, has seen a 63% increase in the number of applications over two years and recently recruited its largest-ever number of first-generation students and students of color under his tenure.
Diversity is important to Garimella, he wrote, pointing to the "deliberate efforts at enriching hiring pools" he has pushed at UVM, which have led to a third of the university's incoming full-time faculty hires over the last few years identifying as faculty of color.
As a candidate, Garimella expressed excitement about the potential of leading the UA.
"(The UA's) comprehensive set of colleges and schools located in an incomparable setting, and its distinguished faculty, staff and students engaged in the full range of disciplines and professions, position the university as a global leader," he wrote. "I would be honored to play a part in the next chapter of the U of A’s continued preeminence and visibility by helping drive toward even greater academic and interdisciplinary research excellence and recognition while building partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to continue to enhance its intellectual, social, cultural, economic and global impact."
